Texas Fire
by mayejrmorris
Summary: Isabella Swan is a detective new to the homicide squad in Carlen Texas. One of her first cases is a rough one and the first in a string of arsons. But focusing on the case becomes a little harder when Bella discovers she has a stalker telling her to back off, her only question is why?
1. July 4, 2000

**This story is new. It is a novel that I've written and wanted to see how people respond to it. So please let me know about any plot holes you may see.**

**MJM**

* * *

**Bella Swan: **A young cop new to the homicide squad. She lives alone but upon finding a body she discovers she has a stalker.

**Jasper Whitlock: **another detective in homicide and Bella's former boyfriend.

**Alice Cullen: **Bella's best friend and a medical examiner out on medical leave.

**Rosalie: **is Bella's sister and has long since been missing and thought to be dead.

**Royce:** a lawyer from New York and Rosalie's husband.

**Emmet: **a man convicted of killing Rosalie even without a body.

**Aro: **the boss of the detectives in homicide all though his behavior seems a little odd in recent weeks.

**Victoria: **a woman in love with Royce and will do about anything to get him.

**Edward Masen: **is an FBI agent brought in to help with the case.

**Claire: **a little girl that grows attached to Bella.

_**More characters will be added once I get to them in the story as I can't remember them all at this time.**_

* * *

_Texas Fire_

_Isabella Swan is a detective new to the homicide squad in Carlen Texas. Her first case is a rough one and the first in a string of arsons. But focusing on the case becomes a little harder when Bella discovers she has a stalker telling her to back off._

* * *

July 4, 2000

Every so often she tried to put thoughts of that man out of her mind but not long later they would creep back in just like tonight. The peace she had achieved disappeared when she spotted a woman that she couldn't see clearly, kissing him goodbye. If it was his wife the kiss did not make it look like they were divorcing but that kiss said different.

She knew the moment he left, after he had ranted about how ungrateful his wife was being, that she would do whatever she could to make him happy again; even if it meant going to jail for him. It was not something she wanted to do but she knew she had to do whatever she could to make it happen.

So sitting in a parked car on a Wednesday night when she could be with him was her way of making him happy. She only had to wait a few more minutes to carry out her plan. Seeing the front door open she stepped out of the car and hid in the woods near another car.

She stayed just barely out of sight when the woman got close enough to her she jumped out of the woods and dragged the woman back into them with her. Making sure she kept her hand over the woman's mouth to keep her screams from being heard. Walking backward she dragged the woman out of the woods and to her car –just barely visible from the woman's own car—and forcing her into the trunk before slamming it shut.

Hopping into the driver's seat she turned on the car and pealed out and headed for the second location. It only took her a few minutes to find the dirt road over grown with weeds that she had been looking for. It was long and filled with pot holes that made the car ride bouncy. It was the only road that led to an abandon barn that hadn't been used by anybody in a long time; so the body wouldn't be found for weeks, months and if she was lucky years.

She pulled behind the barn to hide her car from view. She couldn't chance her car being spotted by someone that happened to be driving by. She wrinkled her nose at the mud that would now cake her shoes before stepping out of the car. She popped the trunk, grabbed her gun and walked slowly to the trunk. She gripped her gun tightly so the woman wouldn't get a chance at running away. Pausing only for a small second she then opened the trunk of the car the rest of the way.

The woman lay motionless but still breathing like she had fallen asleep. She pushed the tip of her gun in to the woman's stomach causing her to flinch at the contact.

"You are up now get out and don't even think about running." She told the woman. "You will just die quicker that way."

"Please don't kill me. I have money, I can give you money just let me go." The woman begged.

"That's a tempting offer you have Rosalie but no. I need you out of the way." She replied.

"I can leave town." Rosalie said.

She didn't answer Rosalie back. Instead she just grabbed Rosalie by her hair and dragged her out of the trunk. Rosalie fell onto the ground scrapping her hands and knees on the rough dirt.

"Get up."

"I can't" Rosalie replied.

"You will if you don't want to die faster."

Rosalie reluctantly got up from the ground and did so slowly. She curled her arms around her stomach. The gun woman wielding the gun grabbed Rosalie by her left arm and pushed her inside the barn through a broken opening on the side. The air inside was musty and thick making it hard for them both women to breath.

Once inside Rosalie pushed herself away from the woman. She wanted to get as far away from the mad woman as she could. She knew it would be a miracle if she made it out alive and with the way things were going, no, she did not see that happening.

"Get on your knees and face the wall." She said to Rosalie.

Rosalie turned around and lowered herself to her knees slowly.

"Please let me go. I'm pregnant. Please don't kill my baby." Rosalie begged.

"It's not William's baby so I don't care." The woman said. "Besides I can always give him a baby if he wants one."

"Please let me go." Rosalie screamed.

"I can't because William will always want you, he might be angry with you but he will always want you. He's mine and he'll be with me once you are out of the picture. Goodbye Rosalie." The woman said pulling the trigger.

Rosalie fell to the ground blood pouring from the wound. Working quickly the gun woman took scraps of wood from around the barn and covering Rosalie's body completely with it.


	2. July 9, 2010

**Well hello Readers,**

**I received this review after I posted the first chapter of this story**

**From: stupid storyy (Guest) - stupid storyy:this story is stuuuuuuuuuuupid**

**I didn't like the review and well guess what you can go blow yourself for all I care because I am writing this story for myself and others that like it not you. So you should have saved yourself the few seconds it took you to write that and reviewed a story you liked or at least given constructive criticism. If you think it could be better then tell me how because saying this story is stuuuuuuuuuuupid doesn't help me at all.**

**MJM**

* * *

**JULY 9TH 2010 FRIDAY**

* * *

The incessant ringing of her telephone had wakened Bella Swan up. She rolled over and grabbed the phone from its cradle to answer it.

"What?" She snapped into the phone.

"It's your boss and I got news for you." The familiar voice of her boss Aro said.

"Hurry up already please. I have sleep to catch up on." Bella replied.

"Emmet McCarty escaped from prison four hours ago."

"Who is that and why are you calling me at this hour when you could have told me later when I arrived at work?"

"He killed your sister."

"Her body was never found," She reminded him. "I'm guessing you think he might be after me now?"

"Yes, So I need you to be careful." He replied.

"Thanks for the call Aro." Bella said before she heard the dial tone.

Bella put the phone back into the cradle and rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

Bella combed out her short Brown hair and smoothed out the red and black dress she wore. Her entire morning felt like it dragged on, from the stake out at the old Carter ranch to the integration and paper work that followed. She finished it all just in time for her two o'clock court date, when in reality that she would be waiting a while and not testifying at two o'clock. Now after all the waiting, Bella could only wait to be called to the whiteness stand. Whishing that they would have let her in the court room but the prosecutor had not wanted her in the court room.

"I don't want your testimony to be affected by your reaction to the other witnesses."

"But I investigated the case!" Bella had yelled, "I can hide my emotions and facial expressions."

The prosecutor even gave her a stern look like she was three years old.

Thinking back to that day, a year and six months ago, Bella still had trouble realizing that a simple vandalism case turned into a murder investigation. She had been working with a patrol man chasing down leads on another case when the call came over the radio. Taking advantage of their close proximity to the crime they rushed right over.

Five minutes later they arrived on the scene. The restaurant was in shambles, tables were over turned, glass cases were shattered, and trails of blood lead them into a back room in no better condition than the dining room. They found a deceased victim's body under and an over turned file cabinet with a second victim was found hiding in a bathroom stall unconscious; bleeding from her forehead not knowing if she was an attacker or not Bella stayed with her while the patrol man checked the rest of the restaurant and radioed for an ambulance and back up.

Bella was greeted by two detectives that were no retired. They were cold and quite rude to her. They even sent her to tell the victims' families what had happened to them.

Nervously Bella looked around the hallway she was in. She saw several people that looked like they were there for a domestic reason or something as simple as drinking and driving. Neither of which she condoned. Thinking about the people Bella fixed her gaze on the court room door.

A few minutes later a door opened. Bella looked up expecting to see the bailiff. Instead of a man wearing a police uniform, out walked a man wearing a suit. He had thinning dark brown hair; the dark gray of his tie bringing out the gray in his eyes. She had recognized the man but couldn't remember where she recognized him from. Probably knew him from high school Bella thought.

After catching her looking the man looked at her oddly and walked passed her; Instinctually Bella gripped the arm of the bench tighter, her throat drying. I know him, I know I do, she thought. But where have I seen that face before? She asked herself.

Bella had waited until the man was completely gone before walking up to the woman he had been talking with and asking who he was after saying that she thought she knew him of course. Only the last name of the name given to Bella was familiar to her. The last name King was one that Bella would remember until she was too old to do so and that was only because that had been her sisters last name when she disappeared and likely killed. But from what she knew of her sister's husband Royce King did not have a brother or family of any kind. She had a weird feeling sweep over her when she sat down. She was so chilled by the feeling that she shivered like it was snowing outside.

Bella watched as the two women and little girl were led into another court room by Officer Jasper Whitlock (an ex-boyfriend). He gave her a courteous wave and nod of the head but said nothing to her. She replied with the same nod and wave. Her attention was only drawn away by an officer coming out of the court room for her. An hour and half later Bella had been free to go home but stayed to watch the rest of the proceedings. She watched the proceedings until just before five when the defense called for a recess. The judge gave them that but said they would reconvene at nine o'clock the next morning.

Bella got out of there before the prosecutor could stop her and have another 'chat' about the case. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about the case; she was just very tired at the moment and wanted to get home and get some sleep or rest so she was firing on all cylinders. Leaving the court house Bella had made it down the first set of stairs, about to go down the second when she was stopped by someone calling her name. She reluctantly turned around to face her boss; Aro Volturi, walking toward her with a scowl on his face.

"What did I do wrong now?" She asked when he came to a stop in front of her.

"No you haven't done anything." He replied sitting down on a nearby bench.

"Then what's with the grumpy face"

"I have to deliver some bad news to you."

"Is Alice okay? Did something happen to her?" Bella asked also sitting down.

"No. Alice is fine." He replied trying to calm Bella down.

"Then what's the bad news? My brother doesn't care about me and my mom and sister are dead—"

"Now about you sister, the man who killed her escaped from prison this morning."

"You already told me that this morning." Bella yelled causing several of the people passing by to stare at her.

"Sorry I thought that was your brother."

"That's fine but I would like to know how he escaped."

"Well at the moment we are assuming that he got some buddies on the outside to cause the prison transport he was on to crash."

"Why was he even on a transport?" Bella asked.

"The Prison he was he was placed at needed more room and was having him transferred to another facility with a stronger security system." Aro replied.

"Was anyone hurt?" Bella asked.

"Another prisoner has a slight concussion but none of the guards or anyone else was hurt."

"So why did you wait to tell me the details now and not earlier when you called me?" Bella asked.

"Marge. The prosecutor told me not to because she didn't want your testimony to be affected by the news and I got called out on another case."

"Are you telling me because he might be coming after me?"

"That's part of it. Plus we have to notify the victims or the victim's family when something like this has come up."

"You are not going to make me go home with a body guard are you?" Bella asked.

"Not unless something unusual happens." Aro replied.

"So let you know if something strange has happened?"

"That would be the idea but I don't want any of this to affect your work."

"I promise it won't" Bella told him before walking away; she really wanted to get home after the conversation she just had.

"Just be careful." Aro called after her retreating form.

She walked down the second set of stairs faster than she did the first set, not wanting to get stopped a second time. When she got outside it started pouring down rain giving her the need to run to her waiting car two blocks away. By the time she got out to her car and inside it she was soaking wet and shivering not just from the cold but the weird feeling she couldn't let go.

Bella had taken out her phone and called the only person she could think of and the only person she felt like talking to.

"I need someone to talk to." She said.

* * *

Bella Swan ignored the prying eyes of her neighbors as she pulled up to her home. She quickly made it inside and changed out of her wet clothing before Alice arrived. She paced the floor in front of her TV out of a bad case of nerves. She rubbed her hands together to ring out those nerves but they only seemed to get worse as the seconds ticked by. A sigh of relief slipped from her lips when she heard Alice's three sharp knocks sounded on her door.

"You can come in." Bella called.

Alice opened the door and walked in with one hand rubbing her extended belly. She was only six months but looked like about eight. Alice's eyes grew bigger when she saw how distressed that Bella looked.

"Bella you need to tell me now what has you so freaked out." Marry said.

"I need to calm myself down first." Bella replied.

"And how long is that going to take?" Alice asked.

Bella replied with a scowl that quickly turned into a grin. The grin slowly turned into a grimace as Bella thought about how to tell marry what had her so stressed. She took a deep breath before she even tried to speak.

"Em McCarty escaped from prison early this morning." Bella finally got out.

"Who's Em McCarty?" Alice asked. "And what does he have to do with you?"

"He is the one they think killed my sister." Bella replied. "But her body has never been found so I don't see how they know or think he did it."

"Wait, are you referring to Emmet McCarty?" asked Alice.

Bella nodded yes.

"That boy couldn't hurt a fly. There is no way he killed your sister." Alice told Bella.

"How do you know him Alice?" Bella asked.

"Well Jasper and I both knew him. He lived down on the same street as us growing up. He was a bit like you, preferred books over sports. He left town before you and your family made it here but moved back just before his senior year." Alice explained.

"How come this didn't come out at his trial?" asked Bella.

"Jasper and I were never asked to speak at the trial. I guess they think child hood acquaintances don't mean a thing." Alice commented.

"I never did think he killed let alone hurt her. His demeanor told me differently." Bella replied. "I didn't know that much about him and I also thought that the courts were competent to put the right man behind bars but I was seventeen, what did I know?"

"You knew a lot more than some cops that were on the force back then." Alice told her. "And if it turns out that Emmet or Em as you called him didn't do it then you are not the only one. I would be in that boat with you."

"The bad thing is I am probably the only one that would give him a fair shake at this point because there is no way in heck that they would give me a shot at solving the case." Bella said. "Oh wait Dylan might but he does not have control of that."

"Yeah you are right Dylan would but the first time you screwed up no matter how big he would take it right away and give it to someone else." Alice replied.

"You know your husband well." Bella commented.

"I am his wife. I am supposed to know him." Alice said laughing.

"Why didn't he come with you?" Bella asked.

"There was a bad fire on old Clearwater's farm. It was one of the old bars or something like that." Alice replied.

"I thought he didn't have to go out because of all the problems you've had with the pregnancy." Bella questioned.

"That was for the two weeks I was on bed rest because of my blood pressure."

"So there's no more bed rest?" Bella asked.

"Not right now but doctor Wright said the last few weeks I might be put back on." Alice replied.

"That's good. Are you hungry?" Bella said.

"Sure you got any Chinese?" Alice asked.

"I can order. The stuff in the fridge is a week old." Bella replied.

Bella got up from the couch to order the food. She had calmed down a little bit since Alice's arrival but not much. She had always had the feeling that Em McCarty did not hurt her sister but she never had the proof that someone else had hurt her sister either. Bella knew deep down that she wouldn't get her answers concerning her sister's death one way or another.

"What's with the funky look?" Alice asked.

"I have a feeling I'm going to do a back door investigation on this." Bella replied.

"Backdoor?" Alice questioned.

"It means that I can't do it in the open." Bella told her.

"You are not going to do anything illegal are you?" Alice asked.

"No. I do not plan on doing anything illegal. What makes you think I would?" Bella said.

"Your sister's murder was _solved_ nine years ago though her body was never found." Alice replied.

Their conversation continued to flow into the late evening hours. Spending dinner in front of the TV with the fresh Chinese after it arrived, watching monk reruns and they continued to do so until Alice's husband Dylan called letting her know he would be late that night.

"Is everything okay?" Bella asked.

"Yes Dylan is just going to be home late tonight. The fire looks like it might be arson."

"Why would anyone want to do that? That has to be hard on Mr. Clearwater." Bella replied.

"I don't know but Dylan will do anything to figure it out because Mr. Clearwater was one of his daddy and granddaddy's best friends."

"I'll probably get the case since I can't work Em's case." Bella replied back.

"Dylan would probably request you after you figured out who stole that bake sale money freshman year." Alice said with a smile. "Ooh."

"Are you all right?" Bella asked on high alert.

"Oh things are just perfect. The baby was moving." Alice replied.

"How long has it been moving?" Bella asked.

"Not very long but they do move around a lot so as long as they continue to move I cam perfectly happy. The kicking I could do without."

"Why is that? I thought expecting mothers loved to feel the baby kick?" Bella asked.

"I do as long as they are not using my bladder as a soccer or football." Alice replied.

"Well Alice as much as I love having you here I think it might be time for you to go home. It is getting late and I don't think Dylan would want you to drive any later than this." Bella said.

"I agree." Alice said hoisting herself up off the couch.

"You should have let me help you up." Bella told Alice.

"Yeah, yeah I hear that all the time from Dylan." Alice replied. "Come on you can walk me out to my car."

Bella did help her friend out to and into her car.

"Call me when you get home." Bella said after Alice got into the car.

Alice nodded and pulled out of the driveway. After Alice left, Bella walked back inside. She cleaned up the Chinese food in the living room and tossed it into the trash. She had been in the middle of the clean up when she heard the door bell. She ignored it and continued to clean up. No one rang this late unless it was trouble.

After she had finished cleaning Bella just wanted to go to bed but another ringing door bell had stopped her. Bella groaned walking to the door; she had to see if anyone was still at the door. She opened the door slowly. No one was there when the door was completely opened. Not even a shadow from the porch light. The only thing in her line of sight was a single white envelope with her name in block print was left. She wouldn't have thought anything of it but it was placed perfectly in the center of the welcome mat.

She grabbed the envelope off the mat and brought it inside slamming the door behind her and locking it for the night. She went into the kitchen and started rummaging through her drawers she had dedicated to junk or things she didn't use to often looking for a letter opener her mother had given her before she passed away.

"Ha-ha success." She cheered when she found it.

Bella slipped the letter opener under the flap and dragged it along the seam to open the letter. A small white card fell out of the envelope when she was done, and in the same block printing as the envelope's front a single sentence was printed in the middle of the card and it read:

LEAVE THE CASE ALONE.


	3. July 10, 2010

Her hand was becoming stiff as she scratched down notes about the file in front of her—the cheep plastic pen she was using wasn't helping matters. There was nothing case breaking but she took the notes anyway. Bella looked up from her work to see Jasper walking past her desk. He didn't look at her but she didn't expect him to not after they ended things the way they did.

"Hey Swan," Someone called.

"What?" Bella asked tossing down the pen.

"You caught another case."

"Aro I've just started this job months ago and I already have six unsolved cases that are months old. Can't I close one of them before I crack open another one." Bella replied.

"No you can't." he replied. "And I don't give breaks to anyone of my officers."

"I get that but why me?" Bella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Dylan Delco told the arson investigator that you would be good for the case," Aro said. "Bart Wilson –the arson investigator— asked that you work the case with him."

"I'll bite where am I needed?"

"It's an arson case out at Clearwater's farm. There's still some flames going but you should head out after lunch."

"Crap. I better go now. My Lunch is almost done and it takes fifteen minutes to get out there." Bella replied.

"I don't have to warn you about safety out there do I?"

"No you don't." Bella said. "They also won't let me near the scene until the fire had been checked, cleared and released."

Aro had given Bella directions even thought Bella knew the way to Clearwater farm." She had been there several times as a teenager with Henry's niece and nephew when they came down from Washington to visit.

Bella grabbed her bag after making sure that she had everything she needed for the field work she would have to do. She got into a department car and headed for the farm.

It took her longer that expected to get out to the farm. The lunch time traffic made it harder to navigate the roads. Parking was a problem Bella encountered. It took her ten minutes to find a place to park where she didn't have to walk an hour to get to the burned down barn. The ruts left by the fire trucks the night before kept her from getting any closer.

There was one truck left and that was in case there were any flare ups from the fire. Bella knew that they were possible because she got burned by one at a scene almost a year ago.

Bella could see the smoke rise from where she was walking. The barn was only thirty feet away. She also spotted the firemen watching out for the flare ups; they didn't want anyone to get hurt and well neither did she.

"Ah Swan you are finally here." A voice said from behind her.

"Yeah, Aro didn't give me a choice Dylan." Bella replied. "He also said that Bart requested me."

"Yeah well you're the best," Dylan said.

"So quit sitting around talking and grab a pair of gloves from your kit and get to work." Bart told her from behind Dylan.

He was an older man, probably in his sixties; graying hair and soot covered clothes and looked so tired he probably just wanted to retire.

"I got it." Bella said. "Where do you want me to start?"

"You should start at the far end of the barn with the chard wood sticking up like a fence." Bart said pointing at a blackened section of land.

"Were any animals in the barn when it went up?" Bella asked.

"Why?"

"The smell around here is really bad." Bella said.

"I guess we are used to the smell of the cows about a mile away. With the wind it's not all that surprising you can smell it down here."

"Have you contacted the owner?" Bella asked.

"Yes and he says the barn hasn't been used in about thirty years. He's also the one that called us." Bart said. "He was checking his property when he saw the flames. He rushed home and called 911."

"That's a good thing. Who knows how far the flames could have gone if he hadn't."

A few minutes later Bella found herself methodically moving around and a roped off grid; stopping only to mark off possible evidence and to photograph and bag it if bagging was possible. The mundane process was interrupted when she moved a fairly large piece of burned up wood. There was dirt and ashes found beneath it among the ashes and dirt was the unmistakable shape of a human skull. Horrified Bella steps back away from the skull to regain her composure.

"I've got something." Bella called out after quickly marking it with a florescent flag.

Dylan, Bart and a slew of other people rushed over to her asking what had her so riled up. Bella tired but failed to find the words to tell them. All of them but Dylan had cameras and evidence bags clutched in their hands.

Bella just pointed to the flag she used to mark the scull's placement. One by one the techs, Dylan and Bart looked at the space marked off. Each one had the puzzled and horrified look on their face. A simple arson case had turned to murder by finding that scull in the rubble.

"We need to call the ME." The last one said.

"I'll do it." Bart said walking away. Bella followed behind him.

* * *

So I heard you had an interesting day." Aro said.

"If you can call finding a skeleton in a burned out barn interesting then yeah I guess I did." Bella replied.

"The only thing worse than finding a dead body and telling the family is all the paperwork and logging in the evidence." He told her.

"No you are wrong. Telling a family their family member is dead is the worst thing any cop can do. The only thing that would make it worse was if it was a child." Bella ranted. "But if you don't mind I do have evidence to check in and then I will leave for the night."

"Take care." He replied to her retreating form.

Bella was glad to be out of the office but evidence had taken longer to check in than usual. They had told her it was because of new procedures being put in place. And because of those new procedures she was late to her meeting with Royce King not that you could call it a meeting; it was more of a confrontation. She didn't really want anything to do with him but wanted to talk about her sister and her brother was out of the question because he had not spoken to either of his sisters for two years before Rosalie died. So her decision landed on Royce and if she didn't catch him now she wouldn't be able to do so for another week.

She walked up to Royce just as he was leaving his office. He was dressed up in a nice gray suit and he was not happy to see her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"You know why I am here." Bella replied.

"What to accuse me of your sisters murder again. News flash for you they already convicted someone." Royce snapped.

"That's true but you should also know that he escaped this morning or did you not get the call."

Royce took a menacing step toward her. Bella took a step back and put her hand on her gun.

"I got that call warning me. So I'll give you this warning back off you don't know who you are messing with." He replied.

Royce took a step back from her as a black town car pulled up. The car stopped and he climbed in. He glared at her from the window was the car drove off into the night.

When she walked into work the next morning it was clear to Bella there was more on her bosses mind than the body from the burned out barn. In fact he didn't want to talk about it. Taking his lead Bella turned her attention to another case for the time being.

When she got to her own desk Bella phoned over to the medical examiner to see if they had made any head way with the body from a murder that happened three weeks ago. They hadn't and because it took time to process the evidences and the results would not be in for a few days and there were no leads; and all that was left to do was to catch up on paper work that he had put off doing long enough.

She took her time filling it out. She didn't want any defense teams to get their clients off because there was something wrong in her paper work. Bella wasn't about to let that happen to her after being a detective for just over six months. She had moved the last of the paper work and found a chemical report dated the week before and called the lab.

"Carlen crime lab how I may help you?" a distant female voice asked.

"I need to speak with the head of the chemical lab." Bella replied.

"Wait while I see if they are in the office."

Bella waited while the cheesy music played from the other side of the line. She waited five minutes before the woman finally came back on the line.

"Dr. Michaels isn't in would you mind talking to his assistant?"

"Put them through." Bella said.

"Joy Allen's Dr. M's assistant; how may I help you?"

"I'm Detective Bella Swan and I need to know why a chemical report for a case I'm working on was not sent straight to me?" Bella asked.

"It was sent to your partner."

"I don't hav—do you by chance know my partner's name?" She asked.

"One second." Joy said. "Yes it looks like his name was Jasper Whitlock. At least that's the name and ID copy I have here."

"Thanks that is all I needed."

Bella hung up the phone and looked across the room to where Jasper Whitlock was sitting. He was laughing at something that his partner had said. She picked up the report and stomped her way across the room to Jasper. She slammed the file down in front of him on his desk. Jasper and his partner looked at her.

"Why are you working my case?" she asked.

"I'm not. I only did what Aro told me to do." Jasper replied.

"I don't care you tell me next time and had me the file after he is done with it. I could have been following leads for a week now." Bella said. "But no because of you I am now a week behind in the investigation."

"Look it wasn't my fault. I was only doing what the boss told me to do. You don't have a partner anymore after Jason up and left for New York again. Two weeks after that Aro asked us all to look out for you.  
Peter and I were the only ones to step up."

"Well stop it. I don't need any help from anyone including you." Bella snapped.

Bella turned on her heel and left. Leaving Jasper and his partner standing slack jawed in shock. She didn't even bother to look back at him she just knew he was standing there looking at her because it's what he did when they fought back when they were dating and she was still in high school. She couldn't let him or anyone else think that she was week.

Twenty minutes later Bella found herself in front of the department's only vending machine looking to have something for lunch but the chips and cookies were not calling to her.

"So what was with the fit you had a while ago?" Jasper asked stepping in front of her.

"Oh that was just me getting pissed off because no one seems to think I can do my job without the help of a man and it's only gotten worse in the four months since Jason left." Bella said. "I am a grown woman and I can take care of myself."

"I'm not saying you can't but I can't just ignore and order from a superior officer. Because if I did Aro would have my hide and I would be out of a job."

"I don't give a dam. Back off my case. I'll tell Aro the same thing when I see him again." Bella said walking off.

"I wasn't done' talking to you Bella." Jasper called after her.

"Well I was done with you."

To make her escape this time Bella slipped into the women's bathroom. She heard Jasper's frustrated sigh from the other side of the door. She would wait him out if she had too.

* * *

Bella was glad to be home after a rough day at work she would love nothing more than to fall asleep on her couch watching old NCSI reruns. But she had a big pile of laundry waiting for her so NCIS had to wait until she was done. Three hours and four loads of laundry later she was done.

She put away her clothes and was moving down the stairs to settle in for a night of greasy microwave pizza and NCIS. But thoughts of the NCIS marathon and greasy pizza were ruined by the angry pounding on her front door. Reluctantly she went to the door instead of the couch.

"What?" Bella snapped ripping the door open.

"You had them serve a warrant on my home and my office." Royce said. "You and your sister are the same; just trying to get me to ruin myself."

"I had nothing to do with the warrant." Bella replied. "They won't even let me near the case because Rose is my sister and Rose and I wouldn't have to get you to ruin yourself you do that perfectly fine on your own."

"I do not believe you." Royce said.

"Well you should not that it matters if you do or not but you need to leave before I call and have you arrested for trespassing and harassment."

"No I am going to stay here until you admit to the fact that you had something to do with that warrant." Royce said. "Till you admit that you were the one to plant the idea in their heads."

Bella walked back to her phone so she could call the police station for help. With her ear on the receiver s she waited for the receptionist or someone else to answer.

"Carlen Police Department how may I help you?"

"This is Detective Swan. I have a man that refuses to leave my property."

"Stay there and we'll send an officer out there soon." The voice said. "Would you like for me to remain on the line with you until the officer arrives."

"It's the procedure and I wouldn't want you to get into trouble."

Bella waited patiently for the cops to arrive and spent her time listened the receptionist talk to her about anything and everything. The unmarked car pulled up in front of her house and she let the receptionist go and went to greet the officers. She was not surprised to see that it was Jasper Whitlock.

"Royce." Jasper greeted. "You need to leave Miss. Swan's property or risk being arrested."

"I don't want him arrested at all. I just want him off my property." Bella said.

"There you go Royce all you have to do is leave."

"This isn't over Bella I know you had something to do with it." Royce shouted on the way to his car.

Bella waited until Royce's car has disappeared around the corner to allow Jasper and his partner Peter in. She sat down in her worn out hand me down lay-z-boy recliner while he and his partner took seats on her couch.

"What was that about?" Jasper asked. "He seemed pretty pissed about something."

"He thought I had something to do with the search warrant served on his home and office." Bella replied. "You could have warned me about the warrant by the way."

"I'm not working that case and neither is Peter." Jasper replied.

"That doesn't change the fact that you knew about it."

"Not until after it happened. And by the time I heard about it I was on my way here to drop something off for Alice." Jasper said. "The call came in for someone to come over here. Peter and I took the call since we were on our way over."

"Um thank you I guess." Bella replied. "So what was it that Alice wanted you to drop off?"

"Here," Jasper said holding out a pale blue envelope. "She said you were waiting for it for a while now."

"Cool." Bella said taking the envelope. "You can go now and nice to see you again Peter."

Jasper and Peter got up from their seats and went to the door. Peter had gone just outside of the door and Jasper was about to go out but turned out but turned around.

"Listen I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the search warrant. I didn't think you would care about it. I'll try to make it up to you. I promise you I will."

"You can come help paint a room in my church tomorrow." Bella replied.

"But I have plans." Jasper countered.

"It's either that or nothing."

"What church is it?" Peter asked from outside.

"It's the family church on thirteenth and main." Bella replied.

"I know that place. I went there two three months ago with a girl who thought it would be good for me. I liked the church but not the girl."

"Well you should come to. All we are doing is painting a room. There will be nothing about god during the painting. If you show up an hour before you will get a small sermon and evening prayer session."

"I'll come and bring this big lug with me too." Peter replied.

"Cool. You guys can move the heavy as heck paint cans for us." Bella said. "And be sure to where working clothes."

"What do you mean working clothes?" Jasper asked.

"You know clothes you wouldn't mind getting paint on."

"Oh."

"Glad you got that now can you leave so I can get to bed."

"Yeah, what time should we be there at the church?" Peter asked. "What? Someone had to ask."

Jasper had given him an odd look but Peter had ignored it and continued talking to Bella.

"Five. You should come around five." Bella replied.

Jasper followed Peter as they headed back out the door as they were doing so a high pitched squeal sounded in the air. Bella ran outside to stand beside them just in time to see a read four door sedan peal down the gravel road flinging rocks everywhere.

"What the hell was that?" Jasper asked.

"That would be James and his flavor of the week." Bella replied. "They must have had a fight and he's probably gone to the bar to drink himself into a stupor before he got arrested for DWI if the bartender doesn't take his keys."

"Do I need to let patrol know?" Jasper asked.

"No. He drinks at a bar frequented by cops and the owner will make him sleep it off in the back room. I only know that because his mother had me track him down about five months ago when he hadn't picked her up for dinner." Bella said. "I'll be fine. I got my own gun so I can protect myself. So can you please leave so I can go catch up on my beauty sleep?"

"Come on Jasper we have a lead to follow up on anyway." Peter said.

"Guess this is goodbye. See you tomorrow." Jasper said.

"Come prepared to paint." Bella told them.

They gave nods of understanding before walking away. Bella waited; she waited until they were in the car and gone before she closed the door and locked it up.


	4. July 11, 2010

Jasper arrived at the Carlen Family church at ten past five. He only had a couple of free hours and then he had to get back to work. He could have skipped this event but he wanted to prove to Bella that he could make good on his promises if he was given the chance that is.

"Are you here to help paint?" a gray haired woman asked.

"Uh… Yeah, where do I sign in?" he asked.

"You don't have to sign in all you have to do is write your name on a sticker and stick it to your shirt so we know who you are." She said pointing to hers.

"Thank you ma'am," Jasper replied.

He quickly wrote his name on one of the tags provided. He looked around the room with tables filled with all kinds of painting supplies. There were also several people moving about setting the cans of pain and the brushes out; so they would be ready for people to use.

It didn't take him long to spot Bella in the corner talking with a dark headed little girl. He smiled at her and she waved back at him. He went to find an empty chair to sit down in until they said it was time to paint. There were a few guys his age there but only a few of them really seemed to want to be there. One of the men even looked similar to a guy he arrested for dealing drugs relating to his homicide case a few weeks back. It didn't take them long to drift over to where Jasper had been sitting.

"So what did you do to get roped into painting?" One of the men asked him.

"Not a thing," Jasper replied.

"Come on you can't tell me that you are here of your own free will when there is a game on."

"I have DVR to record the game for me, but I am also working later anyway." Jasper said.

"Oh so what do you do?" the man asked.

"I'm a cop."

"Are you working the McCarty escape?" the man asked.

"No the FBI is handling that and even if I was I couldn't talk to you about it." Jasper said.

He had stood up from his seat and walked over to Bella and the little girl she had been talking to. A few minutes had passed until Bella had realized that he was standing there. She leaned down and said something in the little girl's ear before walking over to him.

"You actually made it." Bella said. "I honestly didn't think you would come."

"I did make it but Peter won't be coming. He had to head to Austin to testify. He won't be back till late Tuesday night."

The little girl had walked over to Bella and hid behind her. Jasper could her dark hair and one of her eyes but not much else. Jasper smiled at the girl causing her to hug Bella's leg even tighter.

"Yeah I heard about that before I left the station. I'm just glad that one of you made it." Bella said. "Little Claire here needs our help. She's told me that she's real worried about her dad. She hasn't heard from him in months. And he did write her just about every other week but that seems to have stopped and I've tired talking to her mom but the woman refuses to sit down and talk about her ex."

"Couldn't you look into her dad?" Jasper asked.

"I just got the Clearwater case and well you know what we found at the scene yesterday, it's going to need all of my attention."

"Fine what do you want me to do about it?" Jasper asked.

"Well I'd liked you to talk to Claire after the painting is finished but then I would like you to see if you can track down her dad." Bella told him.

"How old is she?" Jasper asked.

"You should ask her. Just because she won't talk to you doesn't mean she can't answer you." Bella said.

Jasper rolled his eyes but crouched down so he could be face to face with Claire. She was a beautiful little girl with bright green eyes and bouncy blond curls to match. She looked incredibly shy peeking out from behind Bella's leg.

"Can you tell me how old you are?" Jasper asked.

Claire held up her whole hand.

"Well Claire Bella told me about you are worried about your dad and asked me to help you." Jasper said. "Can you talk to me after we are done here?"

Claire gave him a nod.

"Painting time." Someone called. "Everyone grab your brushes."

Jasper grabbed a brush from the bucket closest to him. After a while Jasper put his brush down and helped Claire with hers. It didn't surprise him that he got covered in paint. Bella had some on her pants but she was not covered lie he was.

"You should go clean up." Bella told him.

"I guess I should." He replied whipping the side of his face. "You want to get something from the diner when we're done here?"

"I'll think about it but you still have to talk to Claire."

"I said after were done here and that includes talking to Claire."

"Who watches her?" Jasper asked.

"Shelly Cope will watch her until her mother comes to pick her up."

"Well where is she?" Jasper asked. "I last saw her ten minutes ago."

"Over by the name tag table,"

Jasper walked over to the table in question and sat down beside Claire. He wasn't sure how to start questioning her because he had never questioned a child before. He was closer to her level which would make it easier for them to talk. She scooted over him.

"Hi Claire I'm Bella's friend Jasper." He said pointing to the name tag on his shirt. "Do you want to tell me about your dad?"

Claire nodded.

"You don't talk much do you?"

Claire nodded again.

"Okay. Can you draw me a picture of your dad?" Jasper asked.

He had pushed a few more crayons and paper to Claire she started drawing right away.

"Draw everything you want to and everything you can think of, I don't want you to leave anything out." Jasper said.

Claire just shrugged her shoulders as she worked on the picture of her dad. She didn't look at all while she drew her picture. Watching her Jasper could tell that she had waited a long time to talk to about her dad. Jasper wondered why she didn't talk to her mom about it. He also wondered why her mother didn't want to talk with Bella. Finished with her picture Claire pushed the crayons away and pushed the picture towards Jasper.

"Thanks Claire. You did a very good job." Jasper told her. "Now I'm going to ask some questions and all you have to do is nod for no or shake for yes. Do you understand?"

Claire nodded and said that she understood.

"Does your dad's hair and eyes look like yours?" he asked.

Claire nodded.

"Is he tall like me?"

She nodded again.

"Is his skin dark like mine or yours?"

Claire pointed to her arm.

Jasper looked at her picture and spotted an object that looked like an army tank.

"Is this part of your dad's job?" He asked her pointing to the tank.

An enthusiastic nod came from Claire.

"Is this your dad's friend?" he asked pointing to a figure on the paper.

Claire shook her head this time.

"Is he a bad man?"

Claire didn't shake or nod her head. She grabbed at another piece of paper and a crayon. She scribbled something down and pushed it toward Jasper. She pointed to it.

Jasper looked down and read Claire's scraggly hand writing:

I think he hurt my daddy. He told mommy Daddy wouldn't bother us anymore.

Jasper pulled a card out from his back pocket and gave it to Claire.

"Claire this is my card. If you ever need me call one of those numbers and I'll come and help you." Jasper said. "I'll try to fine your daddy for you."

Jasper had barely finished speaking to her when a mean looking woman walked up and pulled Claire up out of her chair by her arm.

"Excuse me ma'am are you her mother?" Jasper asked.

"Yes I am and why do you care?" the woman snapped.

"I just want to make sure she's going home with their right person is all." Jasper lied.

"Well thank you for your concern but I can take care of her just fine." She said before stomping off.

Jasper shook his head and turned to clean up the table. He took Claire's pictures and note and put them in his back pocket. The then put the crayons away and stacked the unused paper in a neat pile. After he was done he went to find Bella. He found her by the door he had come in.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"Sure. How did it go with Claire?" she asked.

"It went well." Jasper said. "But it's hard to explain and I'll be able to do it better sitting down."

"Is it that bad?" Bella asked.

"Depends on how you look at it." Jasper replied.

"I'm looking at it as a cop going after a bad guy." Bella replied.

"Then yeah it's bad." Jasper said.

Jasper walked Bella to her car before he went to climb into his. He went home to quickly to change and clean the paint off his arms and face but had still beaten Bella to the restaurant by ten minutes.

"So what couldn't you say back at the church?" Bella asked him.

"First off I couldn't say this at the church because of the language that might be used." Jasper said. "But there are also things that I have to explain it with."

He took the paper out of his back pocket and laid it on the table. He unfolded it and pushed it toward Bella.

"What is this?" Bella asked. "I'm guessing Claire drew these pictures."

"Yes it is. And she drew them when I asked her to draw everything that she wanted to talk about." Jasper said. "Who is the dark haired man at the top?"

"What about the man at the bottom?" Bella asked.

"That is the man that she believed hurt her dad." Jasper said. "She also said that this man told her mom that he would not be able to bother them anymore."

"I see that she wrote that down."

"It's the only thing she wrote down."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Bella asked.

"I told her I would look into it. By the way do you know her last name?"

"Finnegan," Bella replied. "Why do you need it?"

"I'm going to look up her birth certificate to get her father's name and look him up." Jasper replied.

"That is a good idea." Bella said.

"Glad you think so."

Monday evening Bella stopped by the station to get some files before heading home for the night. She was flipping through the file for the ones with the chemical reports and other trace evidence testing results that had come in throughout the weekend. Hopefully the files held some kind of lead for her.

"Hey Swan I thought you would be on your way home by now."

"Well Jack I was just picking up some files." Bella replied. "Otherwise I'd never solve my cases and I got six of them now.

"Actually you only have four of them. The Wilson farm and Silver Star Ranch fires were started by some kid wanting to piss off his parents. He walked in and confessed yesterday morning didn't want the whole Clearwater fire being blamed on him. His parents are working out a deal with both victims for him to work off the cost of damages so charges will not be filed. Aro was going to tell you tomorrow.

Bella looked through her stack of files and pulled three of them out and put them back in her desk drawer.

"I won't need those." She told Jack.

"You still have to write out reports tomorrow."

"Don't remind me." Bella said. "Can I go now?"

"Yeah I'm done. See ya tomorrow." Jack said before leaving Bella alone.

She was on her way out of the building when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back into a dark and unlit corner. She tried to elbow the person that grabbed her but they kept her arms at her side. When she calmed down and stopped fighting them they let her go. She turned around and smacked them hard across the face.

"What the hell was that for?" the person yelled.

"You have a lot of dam nerve grabbing a cop from behind. You are lucky I didn't shoot you." Bella shouted. "So what did you want Jasper?"

"I wanted to know why you didn't show at Alice's shower last night."

"I didn't show up because I was with you talking about Claire." Bella said.

"Oh… sorry for getting pissed at you." Jasper said. "But you still need to tell Alice you are sorry for missing it."

"It's still on your head that I missed it. So I would expect anger coming from Alice in the next few days." Bella replied.

"You are getting way too much joy out of that thought." Jasper told her.

"I have to find joy in the smallest places now a days," Bella said. "Speaking of which where are you on Claire's dad?"

"No where yet. I'm still waiting on the birth certificate to come in after I get that it might go quicker. It depends on how fast I find the information." Jasper said.

"Just please let me know what happens. Claire has been through enough and so far the only one that has offered to help her."

"I totally understand. There I was something about the mother that didn't seem right to me and she didn't seem to care about Claire at all." Jasper said.

"You got that to?" Bella asked.

"I got it big time." Jasper replied. "Spidy senses were tingling and everything."

"Jasper there you are we have a robbery slash murder to investigate at the connivance store on vine and third." Jack said walking up to them.

"I'll call you later." Jasper said.

"Go you have a murder to solve." Bella replied.

Jasper nodded and walked away trying to catch up with Jack who had walked away. Bella did not want to admit it but she recognized them feeling rising up with in her all too well and that was because she hadn't felt them in ten long years. She was sixteen years old and she still remembered them. She pushed the thoughts away adjusted her bag and headed outside to find her car. She had long since hated the dark and was glad to see the street lamp was back to working even if it was giving off an eerie glow onto the cold pavement she was walking on. Nodding to her fellow officers as he walked quickly to her car.

She paused when she got to her car and saw the white paper underneath her wiper blade. She unlocked her car and placed her bag inside. She climbed back out just far enough to grab the paper and sighed when she saw what it said.

_I meant what I said about calling you. I won't break my promises again. Jasper._

She smiled and placed the note into her pocket before getting back inside her car. She drove to the only place she felt safe the only place she wanted to be; her home.

"Alice I really don't want to go shopping." Bella complained getting out of the car.

"To bad you missed my baby shower and this is your punishment." Alice replied.

"No. You have something else planned." Bella said. "I know you do."

"You'll never know," Alice said in a sing song voice. "Oh and did Jasper drop off that invite to Erica's wedding in November?"

"It was a save the date card and yes he did drop it off." Bella replied. "But that was only because he had to come and remove Royce off my property."

"Why did he—no why was Royce there?" Alice asked.

"He thought I was behind the search warrant served on his home and office. I had nothing to do with it by the way." Bella replied.

"Enough griping about the stupid guy your sister was married too and help me find a crib."

"All right first question what is your price range?" Bella asked walking through the front doors of the store.

"We don't have one. All we want is a crib that is safe, sturdy and has not been recalled." Alice replied.

"Is there any particular color you like?" Bella asked.

"We like the darker wood colors." Alice said.

Bella led Alice through the maze of store aisles looking for the one with the cribs in it. It took awhile but they found the aisle. Going down the aisle they read the description cards underneath each model. Alice narrowed it down to the three she liked the most.

"You have three to pick from. The two dark ones on the end have been recalled." Bella told her.

"I already know which one I want." Alice replied. "The one that looks like a sleigh bed because it transforms in to bigger beds as they get older."

Twenty minutes later the chosen crib was placed in the trunk of Alice's car –with the help of an overly excited stock boy. The crib could have been delivered to Alice's home but Alice wanted to save the extra forty bucks it would have cost her and get extra clothes and things the baby would need instead of waiting the extra week to get it delivered.

"Are you sure you can get that out yourself? I don't want you to hurt your back or anything. Dylan can get it when he gets home."

"Alice I can get it. I may be small but I am stronger than I look. You should know that from when I punched Jimmy Levine in the nose freshman year of high school." Bella said. "Now can I get the crib out or do you want me to wait for Dylan to get home?"

"Fine go ahead and get it out but if your back starts to hurt I'm pushing it back it and we will wait until Dylan get's home."

Bella ignored her and pulled the heavy box out of the trunk and set it on the ground.

"See my back it fine." Bella said spinning around.

"Sorry I can't help but worry these days. You and Jasper being cops and Dylan being a fire fighter—"

"And you being a medical examiner can't help but worry about us all. Especially after the horror's you have seen come in on the table." Bella said. "I used to know what it felt like."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked.

"It was back when Jasper first joined the Army and was sent overseas after he finished boot camp. I'd see those clips of road side bombs on the news and break down crying."

"That wasn't why you guys broke up was it?" Alice asked.

"No." Bella replied. "We broke up for a much more personal reason."

"And you aren't going to tell me are you?" Alice said. "the real reason you broke up."

"No I'm not." Bella said. "Now tell me where you want this crib put."

"In the baby's room, I don't want to move it far after we put it together."

"Got it," Bella said pushing the box up the driveway and inside the house.

She didn't have to move far to get the boxed up crib into the baby's room it was a short hall way. She leaned the box up against the only wall with nothing on it. The changing table and dresser were on the opposite wall. Bella looked around the room. It had recently been painted. The fumes were still there but not as a paint can.

"You painted?"

"Yeah we finally broke down and picked a color that wouldn't give away the sex of the baby and of course I didn't like yellow so I picked this color."

"Not bad. Green is a relaxing color."

Bella left Alice's house a few hours later after she had help organize all the pieces to the crib once they cut the box open. She had left Alice on her couch watching project Runway on her DVR with a glass of lemonade in hand. Bella left her there and headed home. It was late and she really needed to get home.

But a phone call on her cell phone half way there stopped her and had her going in the other direction. A witness called about one of her cases and would not say which one or what they knew unless Bella said she would meet them right then. So instead of going right for home she went left toward the bar. They witness said that the information they had was important and needed to be given to her to night because any other time might be too late.

The parking lot of the bar was pretty much packed for a Tuesday night. Bella didn't find an open space till she hit the back part of the lot. She even passed a few people on her way in that looked like they were already too far gone to be driving but Bella spotted a patrol car across the street and figured they were already on the watch.

The bar it's self wasn't as packed as its parking lot had been. Bella was able to snag a barstool at the end of the bar where she had a nice view of the front door and the people that came and went. Most of the people in the bar seemed to be there to watch the game playing on the TV's above the bar. Bella's eye's however stayed on the door except for a few moments she looked around the bar.

The time seemed to past by rather quickly and before she knew it; it was already ten o'clock. Three hours she had been there. Bella figured her witness was not coming and took that as a notice to go home. She paid her tab took one last look around the bar for the hat the man told her to look for. She didn't find the hat but did spot Royce King talking to two women. Bella decided to visit and made her move once both women had left for the bathroom.

"Hello Royce." Bella greeted him. "I'm surprised to see you here. Not the place you usually haunt."

"Are you following me now?" Royce asked bitterly.

"No. I was here to meet a witness and the stood me up." She replied.

"Then why are you still here bugging me?" he stated.

"I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to treat these women like you did my sister."

"No and I told you that I had nothing to do with what happened to Rosalie. I would never hurt her." Royce ranted. "It was Emmet McCarty that hurt her. Now leave me the hell alone before you regret messing with me."

"Oh I will leave but I know that my sister's death is connected to you somehow or someway." Bella said.

Bella didn't say one more word to Royce and left the bar without a second glance at him. Her car was fine. There was another envelop tucked under the wiper blade. Bella had no idea who it was from and decided that the lesser of two evils would be better and hoped that it was something else from Jasper Whitlock.


	5. July 14, 2010

The day of work had not lessened his anger about what Bella Swan had said to him in that bar. He sat in his home office thinking of ways to get back at her but each idea was just as unlikely to happen to her as the next one in line. His eyes darted back and forth between the clock on the wall and the phone on the corner of his desk. He had been debating between making a phone call the one person he trusted whole heartedly and acting on his instincts even though both situations could end badly. After a few more minutes he dialed the number of his most trusted and really only friend.

"Hey this is Royce. I know you haven't heard from me in a while but I need some help and you are the only person I can trust." He said. "If you get this message and decide to take pity on me and give me some help a ticket to Texas will be waiting for you all day tomorrow."

Royce hung up the phone with a frustrated sigh and pushed it further on to the corner of his desk. He cleaned the flied littering his desk up. He locked them up in his hidden file cabinet (after all he couldn't let them fall into the wrong hands) and then went to get ready for bed.

He took one last look at his office making sure everything was in place before he turned out the lights and closed the door and locked it. He turned toward the short set of stairs that led to his bedroom and climbed into his bed. He did not see the woman standing outside his home watching the lights go off one by one. She smiles with a sickening smile as his bed room light dimed before going out completely.

* * *

Thursday was an uneventful day for Bella. She only had a little paperwork to do and the body from the arson fire had yet to be examined or identified. So until the victim or cause of death were identified she could go nowhere in her case; the chemical reports didn't help much for that matter until they knew who the victim was.

When the phone rang Bella quickly picked it up. "Detective Swan speaking."

"Bella it's half past five are you coming to dinner or not?" Alice asked.

"After I finish my paper work I'll be there." Bella said. "Do I need to pick anything up?"

"No I have everything you just need to bring yourself." Alice said.

"I got to go now paperwork calls."

"See you then." Alice said. "And I meant what I said about bringing yourself and that means no work."

Bella said a quick goodbye to Alice and turned her attention back to the paperwork scattered along her desk. It seemed like no matter how eventful a day was there was always a ton of paper work to be done when the day came to a close and most of it was for witness statements that might not even mean a thing to the investigation. It took Bella longer to do the paper work because she checked it more than the average two times everyone else did. Once she finished her paper work she put it away in her drawer where it would remain until she turned it in tomorrow morning.

Once inside her car Bella sat a while to relax; if only for a few minutes. The ride to Alice's house didn't take as long as Bella thought it would. She took her gun off her belt and slipped it in the glove compartment and locked it so it couldn't get stolen. She slipped her badge into her pocket before she climbed out and headed toward the house. She looked at the house the lights were bright like always. The front door opened and her best friend stood in the middle of the door way.

"Hurry up already. It doesn't take that long to get to the door and I don't want dinner to get cold." Alice said.

Bella turned and quickly checked the doors and her car one last time and headed inside. When she reached the door Alice gave her a hug and stepped aside to let her in.

"It's good to see you and left my gun in my car." Bella said. "Because I know you don't like to have them in the house."

"Good now come in. Jasper and Dylan are waiting for us." Alice said.

"Jasper's here?"

"Yes and you both will be staying." Alice said. "And you both will be civil because I will not have my best friend and my brother fighting. So play nice."

"Fine but if he turns nasty don't think I won't." Bella replied.

"I warned him when he got here." Alice replied.

"That doesn't mean he will follow your rules."

"Being pregnant has its advantages he's too afraid to piss me off."

"I am not afraid to piss you off. It's that I'm not stupid enough to piss you off." Jasper said. "You two girls coming in because I swear Dylan's stomach is getting louder."

"He's lying it's his stomach that is getting louder." Dylan yelled from the living room.

Alice took their moment of distraction and pushed Bella and Jasper into the living room and pulled the pocket door closed as she walked in behind them. Bella quirked and eye brow at her movements and headed for the dining room. Alice followed her Dylan and Jasper had not. They were watching a game that Dylan recorded because he had to work when it originally aired.

"So what is up with you and Jasper?" Alice asked.

"Nothing I just prefer to stay away from him because ninety-nine point nine percent of the time we end up yelling at each other instead of talking the adults we are."

"I told you a month ago that it was the sexual tension." Alice said.

"Do you really want to talk about that kind of thing between me and your brother?" Bella asked Alice as she left the room.

"Talk about what?" Jasper asked walking in to the room. "Were you talking about me?"

"Sorry but no." Bella said. "Be sides if it was I wouldn't want your ego to get any bigger."

"Oh I wouldn't need you for that anyway." Jasper said as he leaned closer to Bella. "But I would want you to do it."

"Dinner is ready." Alice said coming back in. "And if you two are done making goo goo eyes at each other we can eat without threat of losing our stomachs."

"Alice I was just explaining to your brother that I was not going to stroke his ego." Bella replied sitting down.

"So that's what it's being called now." Dylan said.

"It's not what you think D," Bella said "And Alice your husband has a dirty mind."

"I know and I have tried everything to clean it but nothing works." Alice said.

"Try going to church I heard that works." Bella suggested to Alice.

"Oh Bella I tried but we never seem to have a Sunday off together and I don't like going anywhere without Dylan especially this close to when the baby is due."

"My church has a Wednesday service." Bella said. "I can take you next week if you want me to."

"If D has the day off sure. It can't hurt us or anything." Alice replied.

"Don't worry Alice. The ladies that go there are really nice." Jasper said. "And I just went there to paint."

"When was this?" Alice asked.

"Last Sunday." Bella said. "I wanted him to talk to with this little girl who was worried about her dad."

"Oh that was rather nice of you Bear." Alice said passing a bowl of bread around.

"It was nothing." Jasper replied. "And it was the way the girls mom acted that I really dug into the case."

"And then some." Bella said. "It was the actions she displayed toward me as the reason why I asked Jasper to come help us paint. He got to see for himself how bad the woman was."

* * *

Two long hours later Bella said her goodbyes to Alice, Dylan and even Jasper. The dinner had gone well after talk of the unsuitable mother was over with. Dylan and Jasper's attention turned back toward the game they were watching before dinner and a fishing trip they were planning for after Alice and Dylan's baby was born. Bella stayed in the dining room and talked with Alice about her baby and was she still needed to get before said baby was welcomed into the world.

"I'm heading out." Bella said. "And I mean it this time. I really need to get home."

"I'll walk you out." Jasper said. "Don't look at me like that. I have to drop by the office."

"Sure you do." Bella said before walking away.

She walked out of the house with Jasper following her. She got to her car and unlocked the passenger's side first so she could unlock the glove compartment and get her gun clip it back on to her belt. She then closed the door and went to the driver's side unlocked that door and climbed in. She turned the key but the car did not start. She paused for a few minutes and tried it again and again it did not work.

She groaned and glanced at her rearview mirror and saw Jasper leaning up against his car watching her. Bella stepped back out of her car. She took a deep breath and walked over to Jasper.

"Could you give me a ride?" Bella asked. "My car won't start."

"I could see that." Jasper said. "But go ahead and climb in just give me your keys so I can lock your car up."

Bella climbed into Jasper's truck while he walked over to her car and double checked that it wouldn't start before he locked it up and double checked that he locked it.

"Are you ready?" Jasper asked her.

"If you are done I am." Bella replied. "I'll let Alice know about my car when I get home."

"Let's get you home then." Jasper replied.

Jasper climbed into his seat next to Bella and handed her keys back over. The buckled themselves in and rode in silence over to Bella's house. The street was dark when Jasper got there. He got out walked to the passenger side and helped Bella out even though she did not need it.

Bella went to go around him but was stopped by Jasper's arm coming out in front of her and keeping her from going further.

"Did I forget something?"

"No." Jasper answered.

"Then why did you stop me?" Bella asked.

"I stopped you so I could do this." Jasper said as he leaned closer to Bella. She stiffened and he kissed her.

Bella pulled back from him and gazed at him and quickly walked up to her front door and unlocked it. She could hear Jasper calling her name from behind her but she refused to turn and face him.

"Bella!" he yelled once more. "Please just let me say I'm sorry."

Bella did not listen to Jasper she just finished unlocking her door. She quickly went inside and slammed the door shut and leaned against it. She could hear Jasper still calling her name. She did not want to admit it to anyone let alone Jasper that she had enjoyed the kiss. Bella turned to look out her peep hole. Jasper was still standing on her porch. She waited for a few seconds and took out her phone and sent Jasper a text telling him that she needed time.

She leaned back against the door and sighed. She turned around and looked out the peep hole again. Jasper was walking away. He got the message. Bella went up stairs and changed in to some night clothes and went back to lock her front door and make sure all her other windows and doors leading to the outside were locked. She went and checked the front door a second time and saw a piece of paper sticking out from under the door. She picked it up and could tell by the hand writing that it was from Jasper.

_Sorry that I kissed you the way I did. I should have asked you first. Once again Bella I am sorry. ~Jasper._


	6. July 16, 2010

The doctor's office was fairly empty when Alice arrived for her appointment. Dylan arrived a few minutes after her. He waited quietly with her even though he would rather be outside than inside a stuffy doctor's office but the baby would come first and the appointment was for the baby and Alice to see how they are doing.

Alice's attention was on her blackberry; on which she was typing furiously. Dylan had no idea what she as doing and figured she was talking to Bella or one of her subordinates and the ME's office.

"Who are you talking to?" Dylan asked her.

"I'm not talking to anyone. I'm writing in the notepad section." Alice replied. "I want to know what is going on between Bella and Jasper and I'm keeping track of what I do know."

"Don't even think about it Alice," Dylan warned.

"Don't even think about what?" Alice asked.

"Don't nosy in on what is going on between them. They need to work it out for themselves not have you pushed them to get together." Dylan explained.

"I'm not pushing them into anything. I just want to know what is going on." Alice said. "I care about them both and I do not want to see either one of them hurt. Nor do I want to get where I have to choose between a friend and a sibling."

"I get that because I wouldn't want to choose between a friend or a sibling especially if the friend is like a sibling too." Dylan told her.

"Yeah well you only have one sister, who is ten years older than you and would kick your butt if you tried to tell her who she could date." Alice said.

"Yes she would." Dylan said. "What time was the appointment?"

"Twelve noon, why?" Alice asked.

"We've been here waiting nearly an hour now and no one has come for you yet." Dylan replied.

"Alice Cullen?" a nurse called.

"Finally." Dylan mumbled under his breath.

"That's me." Alice said. "Help me up Dylan."

Dylan got out of his chair and help Alice up out of hers. He walked behind Alice holding her bag.

"If you don't mind my asking miss why did it take so long for you to call my wife back?" Dylan asked.

"We had a woman go into labor unexpectedly and had to clean the room up but don't worry your wife will be seen in another room."

"Eventful." Alice commented.

When she got to work Friday morning Bella found a file she didn't recognize on her desk. It didn't even look like one the department used with no metal tabs at the top to keep paper locked in place and it didn't even have the department logo on the front. It was just a bunch of black and white pictures for years ago. They looked like they were taken out front of a factory that was now abandoned. Taking a closer look at the photos Bella could tell some kind of illegal deal was going down. It could be drugs or guns or money but money would be involved no matter what.

The last picture in the file is the one that has the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. It was a black and white picture of her boss and another man that had died last year. The man's death was wide spread (at least in Carlen it was) and his name was Dan Lewis. He was shot coming out of the Italian restaurant he had open six months earlier by some young gun that claimed Dan had killed his little brother in cold blood. Bella took the photo of Dan and Aro and locked it into her desk draw so no one could get to it. She kept the others in the file.

"What do you have there? Bella," someone asked.

"I have no clue. The file was on my desk when I came in just a few moments ago." Bella said. "Do you need something Peter?"

"No not right now I don't," He replied. "You haven't seen Jasper around by chance have you?"

"Not since last night when I left his sisters place." Bella said. "But if I do see him I will send him your way."

"Thank you." Peter replied before moving on his way.

Bella looked at the file and wondered what she should do about it. The one picture could be very damaging to Aro's career if it got out. The rest of them couldn't do a thing because they looked like a normal police raid.

Bella got up from her desk and walked over to Aro's office with all but the one picture in her hand. She saw the door was open and walked on in. Aro's back was to the door so he couldn't see her when she came in. Aro was speaking harshly into the phone and his words did not make her think that he was one of the good guys.

"—shipment needs to be sent to the south warehouse—yes but watch the fire."

Those words scared Bella so she quickly backed out of the room. Once she was out she gently pulled the door closed and knocked on it like she hadn't even been in the room.

"Come in." Aro called.

Bella pushed the door open.

"Ahh Detective Swan I was just about to call you in here." He said.

"What for?"

"Royce King." Aro said.

"What about him?" Bella asked.

"You know what I mean. You have been following him around. I want it to stop now." He said. "And I'm only doing this because you accosted him inside a bar while he was having dinner and embarrassed him in front of his companion."

"I didn't see him until I went to leave and he was alone. There was no companion male or female in sight." Bella replied. "And I can't stand the man so why would I follow him around?"

"I don't care Swan. I want you to leave him alone. You can go back to work now." He replied.

"I have no reason to go near him so it won't be a problem." Bella told him. "But I came over here because I had something to show you."

"Then show me." Aro said curtly.

Bella took the file of pictures and placed it on Aro's desk. She opened it and then one by one took the pictures of the top of the small stack. After she was done she put all the pictures back into a stack and sat down into one of the chairs in front of Aro's desk.

"I found that file on my desk this morning. I do not know who put it there or if they are even a cop or if the photos are of one of your first cases because your face could be seen in a few of them."

"Were there any other pictures in the file?"

"No there wasn't when I got the file but I would assume there had been more to the file at some point since the file is creased like too much paper or whatever had been placed in it."

"I'll have the lab go over them but I don't think anything will come of it though. They are probably just old pictures from a newspaper article."

"So no need to freak?" Bella asked.

"At the moment I do not believe there is a reason to."

The crisp cool air of the bus station office was a welcoming element after eight hours on a bus next to a man that smelled like he fell into a pig pen and hadn't showered after getting out and a window that she wasn't allowed to open. There was only one thing that would make Victoria happy right now besides the fresh cool air and that would be seeing her love again.

"Ma'am do you need a ride?" a man in a read truck asked her.

Victoria thought about it for a moment. She had no idea where to go first. There were several places that she wanted and needed to go. Picking the lesser of two evils she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it over to the man.

"Can you take me to that address?" Victoria asked the man.

"Of course I can. I know this town like the back of my hand." He replied.

"I used to live here but it's changed a lot in the ten years since I've been here."

"You've been here before?" he asked.

"Yes I have. So now if you don't mind I'd like you to take me to that address now or I'll start walking." Victoria said.

"Sorry." The man said. He leaned over his seat and across the passenger seat and opened Victoria's door.

Victoria grabbed her back and pushed it in. The last push was a little too hard because a gun fell out. She hurried up and grabbed it and shoved it back into her back and cinching it tighter so the gun wouldn't fall out again.

"Do I need to be worried?" the man asked.

"No. It's a gift for a friend." Victoria said. "I had it secured but I guess the ties had come undone during the ride here."

Victoria pulled her shoulder bag closer to her and hopped into the man's truck. She didn't want the man to see the gun again so she kept the cinched end of the bag pointed toward her.

"Well I hope you have it in a safe place bumpy rides happen a lot out here." He said. "County's too lazy to fix the pot holes when the pop up."

"Now is it west or east on this road?"

"East," Victoria replied. "And you can stop when you get to the end of this street here. My arrival is to be a surprise."

The man pulled down the street toward a vacant lot not far from the house with the address Victoria had given him. Victoria slyly undid her bags cord and slipped the gun out. She gripped it and held it tight out of the man's sight.

"Well here we are." The man said pulling the truck to a stop.

Victoria turned in her seat and pointed it at him.

"Get out." Victoria said.

The man gulped and pushed himself out of his seat after fighting to get the door open. He fell on the rough ground of the vacant lot. Victoria climbed into the driver's side and closed the door. She put the truck in drive and punched the gas sending gravel flying. There was a small thump against the bottom of the truck as she pulled out of the lot.


	7. July 16, 2010pt2

**I'm not sure how long it's been since I updated and I'm really sorry for not updating. I got distracted by writing. It was supposed to be a one shot with just a one thousand words but now has well eleven thousand words and might end up with more because I have yet to finish.**

**Hope you like this chapter.**

**MJM**

* * *

"Bella you got some time?" Jasper asked.

"Why do you ask?" Bella replied.

"I wanted to take you to lunch." He said loud enough for those around them to hear but lowered when he added. "I need to talk to you about Claire. You know away from prying eyes and ears."

"Sure if you are paying." Bella replied. "But you do know that there are a ton of those in this town anyway."

"Of course I do. Do you think we could go now? Peter and I are scheduled to take over a stakeout sometime this afternoon." Jasper told her.

"Ooh fun." Bella replied sarcastically.

"See you outside in ten." Jasper said as he rolled his eyes.

Bella watched Jasper leave. She knew that Jasper didn't really like Aro but then again she didn't either and only showed him respect because Aro was a superior officer and her boss. Bella thought for a second and opened her desk drawer and grabbed the photo of Aro from inside it. She would at least see what Jasper thought she should do about it.

Bella had barely made it out of the station when Jasper first called her name. She turned on her heel to face him. He was grinning when she found him. Her cheeks were red and heated from the blush that rushed them seconds ago. She felt like she was in high school again blushing every time Jasper smiled at her. Bella quickly shook her head to keep herself from grinning like a fool right back at Jasper as she walked up to him.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Bella replied.

"Good point." Jasper replied opening the car door for her.

She climbed in sat her bag in the floor board before she put her seat belt on, Jasper wouldn't move the car and inch until she had it on. She looked over and saw that he had climbed in behind the wheel. He started the car and left the police station parking lot in the review a few seconds later.

The restaurant that Jasper had picked out for them wasn't that far from the station but it took more than thirty minutes to walk so they had chosen to take the car instead –at least that was Jasper's reasoning. It was a dinner with a theme that threw anyone that walked into back into the fifties without it being the cheesy fifties dinner thing.

Bella had kept quiet until they were seated. Jasper had remained quiet to but had opened his mouth several times to say something but didn't. The table they were seated at was at the back near a booth that used to hold phone.

"So what's going on with Claire's dad?" Bella asked after her order had been placed.

"I found him, I honestly didn't think I would but I did."

"So where is he?"

"Afghanistan." Jasper told her. "At least he was when I checked last night."

"What?" Bella exclaimed.

"He's a Marine. He has been serving his tour in Afghanistan for the past year and has another year to go. At least that's what is going on with the name on Claire's birth certificate." Jasper said. "But I won't know that until a DNA test is run."

"That doesn't mean he's who Claire knows as her father." Bella said.

"True but that's why I have a picture that I plan to show Claire whenever I see her again."

"That's a good idea you have but I don't think it will be happening anytime soon."

"Why?" Jasper asked.

"Because I didn't see Claire at the last service," Bella said.

"I never thought it would happen right off the bat. I've only been at this for a few hours at the most because work comes first." Jasper said. "I just hope she's okay."

"Oh, I hope she's okay," Bella said. "And there is a children's carnival tomorrow at the church you could drop by and see if she's there and if she's not you can always stay and help out."

"I'll think about it." Jasper said. "Is there something else you want to say because I feel like there is?"

"There is I just don't know how to word it." Bella said. "Actually it's more like showing you but I don't think this is a safe enough place."

"You can show me or tell me in the car on the way back to the office." Jasper said.

"Got it, now let's eat." Bella said pulling the menu closer to her. "It's been a while since I've eaten here."

"Why haven't you?" Jasper asked.

"I prefer to eat at home. Don't really like people watching me while I eat and I feel like that happens a lot." Bella said.

"Then why do you stay away?"

"I told you I don't like people looking at me while I eat and that seems to happen a lot now that Bear McCarty escaped from prison."

"You know he's called Emmet by most people."

"Yes I do but I knew him as Bear."

"I knew him as Emmet and I think it was only girls that seemed to call him Emmet." Jasper said.

"You might be right about that. I only called him Bear because that is what my sister called him."

"Your sister knew him?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah she did. She was dating him when she went missing and most likely killed." Bella replied. "It's also why I don't think he killed her."

"How do you know that?" Jasper asked.

"She kept a diary of sorts. She wrote in it every day up until the day she went missing and there was nothing but love about Bear in it."

"That doesn't sound like just another crush to me." Jasper replied.

"I don't think it was. The last thing she wrote in it made me think that she thought he was going to propose or had proposed to her."

"But what about all that blood found at his apartment?" Jasper asked.

"You should know from the Weston case last year that blood evidence could be faked."

"That doesn't mean it was faked just because one case was faked doesn't mean all others will be."

"True but you can't rule it out." Bella said. "The evidence in Bear's apartment was so degraded that they could only get that it was female blood with the same type as Rose. No DNA could be tested."

"Alright I get. It's almost two and I need you to show me what you need to show me," Jasper said.

Bella looked around to make sure no one could see them. She pulled the picture out of her bag and slid it across the table to Jasper.

"That is what I wanted to show you."

Jasper had flipped it over and was looking at it intently.

"Is this who I think it is?" he asked. "Where did you get this?"

"It was on my desk when I came in this morning." Bella replied. "And yes it is who you think it is. It also came with a few others."

"Are they still there?"

"No. I gave those to Aro and kept that one because well I think the reason is obvious." Bella said. "Aro said he was sending them to the lab but if that is the truth or not I don't know. The others are not as incriminating as that one there."

"What did they show?" Jasper asked.

"They show what looks like an ordinary police raid, just with a younger Aro."

"Much younger by the looks of it; I can't believe he was ever that skinny." Jasper said.

"That's for sure." Bella said.

"Okay so who ordered the chicken?"

An hour later Jasper sat in the unmarked car he and Peter would be using for their stake out. It had been planned for weeks. If everything went alright today they would be closing another case.

"You were late." Peter said.

"No need to state the obvious and I was with Bella." Jasper replied.

"Doing what?" Peter asked.

"It wasn't like that. There is this little girl Bella wanted me to help and we were talking about that." Jasper said. "The girl was worried about her father and her mother doesn't seem like the best one out there."

"That bad?" Peter asked.

"That bad and maybe worse." Jasper said.

"Need to get that girl out of there if you can and as soon as you can."

"I know. The only case going slower than the girls is the one with Emmet McCarty," Replied Jasper. "But that whole thing seems fishy to me."

"I still can't believe they haven't caught him yet. A week and not one lead either," Said Peter.

"So when's this guy supposed to show up?" Jasper asked.

"Ten minutes. Now quit changing the subject." Peter said. "Why do you think it's fishy?"

"Blood evidence could be faked and we know that because of the Weston case last year." Jasper said. "And I wasn't changing the subject."

"Sure sounded like a subject change to me." Peter said. "But if you need Help with anything let me know. I've got contacts at the FBI."

"As long as it's not too dangerous."

"I am a cop nothing would be too dangerous for me."

"You sure about that?" Jasper asked.

"Yes and the suspect's car just pulled up." Peter replied.

"Black or Green?" Jasper asked.

"Green."

"Can't be there is a female in the car." Jasper said. "And there are no other passengers that I can see. You can look for yourself."

"Don't need to the girl is getting out." Peter replied.

Both men had one hand on their weapon and one hand on the door handles in case they needed to get out fast. They watched as the girl grabbed a large box from the back seat at set it down at the curb when three loud pops screamed through the air. Both men were out of the car with guns drawn before they even realized it. Steadily they covered each other and looked for where the shots had come from.

Once he was sure that he was no longer a target for the gun man Jasper ran over to the woman lying on the ground. He quickly looked over her to see if he could do anything but there was nothing he could do. Her pulse was nearly gone and it looked like she had been hit by two bullets while the third hit the car.

"Peter call for a bus, she's going to need one." Jasper called over his shoulder.

Peter had already been on the phone calling for back up and an ambulance which arrived a few minutes later with a patrol car in tow. The paramedics hopped out and immediately went to work on the woman. Jasper stayed with them while Peter grabbed the stretcher out for them. They put the neck collar on, checked her vitals and made sure she was stable before putting her into the back of the ambulance.

"How bad was she?" Peter asked when the ambulance had disappeared around the corner.

"Bad," Jasper said. "Her pulse was weak. I say it'll be a miracle if she makes it to the hospital."

"Just pray that she makes it."Peter said slapping Jasper on the back.

"Already am but that doesn't make it any easier."

They told the officers that arrived with the ambulance what happened before they were allowed to leave. They would have to make statements later after they had cleaned up a little bit.

"No it don't. Now let's go get you cleaned up." Peter said.

Jasper nodded and walked toward the car he removed his ruined shirt after crossing the yellow tape. He got in the passenger side and wiped the blood off his hands onto a clean part of his shirt. Peter dropped him off at home so he could change and come back to work to do what he knew was needed to be done.


	8. July 16, 2010pt3

**I won't be updating for a while, life is getting in the way.**

**MJM**

* * *

"Alice I have told you that I will be fine. I can cook and clean for myself thank you and if I don't feel like cooking I can all ways order in." Bella said. "Listen I need to put my phone down so I can open my door so I can get in. I will call you if I need anything."

Bella ended the call after saying a final goodnight to Alice. She had bent down to put the key in the lock but bumped the handed and knocked the door open. Something was wrong and she knew it. She didn't need the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up to tell her that. Her had shot to her gun holster incase she need her gun.

She drew her gun and slowly pushed the door the rest of the way open and moved inside. Because her house was so small she knew she would hear them if they had remained inside. A creak of the floor above her told her that her line of thinking was true. She crept past her couch and to the stairs. The lights weren't on making it hard for her to navigate the stairs without falling. Her grip on her gun had gotten tighter with each step she made.

She checked the first bedroom and there was no one there just stuff thrown about. The next bedroom and the shared bathroom were the same if not worse. The last room which being the master bedroom was at the end of the hall. Whoever it was hard to know she was on the second floor because the creaking of the floor boards she caused. She moved her gun straight out in front of her as she pushed the door open with her free hand.

The door swung open at the same moment Bella heard a crash from her privet bathroom. She didn't need the lights on to tell her that her master bedroom was damaged far beyond that of the others. Just about everything in the room was damaged in one way or another.

Bella walked up to the broken window and look out of it. There was no one there. Slowly she turned around and took in her room again before she hurried out of the room and out of the house. She left her things in the house. She had to leave it as it was for the evidence collection.

The large window in her bathroom had been shattered, along with all her glass bottled perfume bottles. The shampoo and anything liquid was spilled all across the floor. There was no other way to put it her home was trashed.

Feeling overwhelmed by everything Bella ran from the house and sat down on the curb when she got to the edge of the side walk. She set her gun down and let out the breath that she had been holding her hand never far from her gun. She had taken her phone out to call someone but couldn't because the battery had died.

She turned her had looking around at her neighbors homes. The only one with lights on was Esme, her nicest neighbor and the grandmother from next door. It didn't take long for Esme to come and see what was going on.

"Oh my Bella are you alright, I was just watching the news when I heard the crashing and shattering coming from your place. I called nine-one-one because I wasn't sure if you were home or not."

"I wasn't home." Bella replied.

"Oh thank goodness from the sounds coming from your house, I don't think you would have made it." Esme said.

"It was quite a shock." Bella replied. "I can hear the cop sirens coming now."

"Let me know if you need anything. Carlisle and I are here for you."

"Thank you." Bella told her.

Bella watched as Esme walked back to her home and to the granddaughter who had her head poked out of the door. A patrol car pulled to a stop in front of her house. The two officers got out and walked calmly over to her. She was familiar with the both of them but couldn't stand them; they had joined the forces the same time as her but were still stuck on patrol.

"Are you the one that called 911?" the younger of the two asked.

"No, that was my neighbor; I wasn't home at the time she called." Bella replied. "I came home and entered just after she called. Everything upstairs has been trashed; I'll be surprised if anything is salvageable."

The other officer leaned forward and whispered something in the ear of the other one.

"Can I search the residence?"

"Oh yeah sure go ahead." Bella said even thought she wanted to scream _'It's a crime scene you idiot of course you can.'_ Into his face but she knew better.

The officer that wanted to look around her house walked passed her and the officer that was questioning.

"Do you have anyone that you can call?"

"Yeah but my battery has died."

"You can use mine." He replied holding it out.

Alice could see the flashing lights of the cop cars before she even made it to Bella's street. Several of Bella's neighbors were on their porches and drive ways trying to figure out what was going on. She parked her car around the Crime Scene Unit truck.

She found Peter, her brother's partner but not her brother. Peter had been talking to someone Alice hadn't recognized and waited in until they had walked away to walk up to him.

"Alice what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Jasper called me to come and pick Bella up." Alice said. "He said something about her place being trashed."

"It was just the top floor." Peter replied.

"Can you tell me where either one of them is?" Alice asked.

"They should be back soon. Jasper took Bella through to see if anything was missing but how she could tell in that mess I don't know."

"Fine, just tell Bella that I'm parked behind the Crime Scene Unit van when she's ready to leave." Alice said. "My back is killing me and I need to sit down."

"I will." Peter said.

Alice waddled her way back to her car and watched as even more people had come out of their homes to watch what was going on. Her job as a medical examiner led her to be suspicions but trusting of just about everyone because you never know who could be the killer, so she watched everyone as she eased herself back into the car.

Bella climbed in to the car ten minutes later. She had a small bag with her but placed it in the back seat. Alice could tell something was off about Bella at the moment but with her house getting broken into Alice wasn't surprised by that.

"Sorry, I had to do a walk through with Jasper." Bella told her.

"That's alright and peter told me. But why didn't you call me?" Alice replied.

"I didn't want you driving this late and at the time his number was the only one I could remember." Bella said. "Besides I had just gotten off the phone with you and you said you were going to bed I didn't want to wake you."

"You should have called me."

"Trust me if I could have I would have."

"Where's your car?"

"I left it at the station it didn't want to start." Bella said.

"Who drove you home?"

"Luisa gave me a ride because she was going the same way as me."

"So could you tell if there was anything missing or not?"

"I don't think so I think it was all trashed but I won't know until I get to clean it all up."

"Do you have a place I can lock my gun up?" Bella asked when they pulled up to Alice's house.

"There is a lock box that you can use in the den." Alice replied. "I'm going to put fresh towels in the bathroom, so you can take a shower if you want to."

"You didn't have to do that." Bella said.

"I know but I wanted to." Alice said. "Be sure to put the towels in the hamper when you are done and I'll get that lock box tot you."

Alice led Bella to the smallest bedroom in her three bedroom one floor home and left her there to go and get the lock box. Bella clutching her bag (that she snagged from the back seat) to her and walked into the bathroom. She turned on the water shed her clothes and quickly showered. She put the fresh clothes she brought with her and slipped back into the small bedroom Alice had allowed her to use.

The lock box was waiting on the bed for her along with a phone charger—that's Alice for you. She knew right away that Alice had brought it in while she was in the shower. Bella removed her gun from her bag and placed it in the box after removing the clip of bullets. She took the clip of bullets and hid them in her shoe which she pushed underneath the bed. She took the lock box and placed it in the bed side table's drawer before finally hooking up her phone to the charger.

For once in her life sleep had not come easy for her when she need it. The shower she had taken moments ago relaxed her enough to fall asleep. The hot water had relaxed her mussels and made her feel all warm for all of two seconds after she turned the water off. But as she lay there eon the bed she felt like her mind was going a thousand miles a minute.

She started to feel restless again and forced to lie still on the guestroom bed. The street lights shined faintly through the bedroom curtains. She pulled the pillow from under her head to over it so it would block the light from her eyes. She lay like that for hours until the silence was broken by her phone ringing. She threw the pillow off her face and went in search of her phone. She knocked it off the bedside table –where she set it—into the floor. She reached for it and brought it to her ear after hitting the accept button.

"Bella." She answered.

"It's me Jasper. Sorry to call so late but I wanted to make sure you made it to Alice's place okay."

"I'm good were find your sister is snoring away in the other room as we speak and I even got a shower." Bella replied.

"How are you feeling?" Jasper asked her.

"I'm okay, but trying to figure out who would want to break into and trash my place but being a cop that leaves too many open doors to deal with." Bella replied.

"Don't worry about that Pete and I will figure out who did this." Jasper replied. "Just be extra careful anywhere you go, just because you are a cop doesn't mean something can't happen to you."

"I know that." Bella said. "But surly my break in isn't as important as the shooting from earlier."

"I was given both cases." Jasper said. "And you should know by now that we all work more than one case at a time even though we all wish we could have our cases solved in an hour like one CSI NY."

"I know that too. I also know that there are all kind of crazy things out there than can connect to cases that don't seem to have anything to do with each other."

"Bella I have to go. Peter just found something." Jasper said.

"Jasper wait what is it?" Bella asked but Jasper hung up the phone before Bella could finish.

"Dam it." Bella mumbled in frustration closing her phone.


	9. July 17th 2010

Bella woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee brewing and bacon cooking. She climbed out of bed and walked out to the kitchen and sat down at Alice's kitchen table. Alice filled a cup with the steaming brown liquid and sat it in front of Bella. Alice was dancing –as much as she could with her baby filled belly— in front of the stove making sure the bacon didn't burn as it cooked. Knowing Alice was due to give birth soon and was tired rather quickly Bella was surprised to see her with this much energy this early in the morning.

"You are still here?" Alice asked.

"Yeah I slept later than normal and I have no car." Bella replied. "Jasper said he would take a look at it later on today if he had the time."

"I forgot about that, Pregnancy brain you know." Alice said. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"I'm good with coffee. I don't think my stomach can handle much right now." Bella told her.

"Rough night?"

"Yeah I didn't get much sleep." She shivered at the thought of her nightmares.

She kept them to herself. Alice would worry too much while she was at work. The nightmares were a onetime thing at least she hoped they were.

"Do you need me to take you to work?"

"I kind of have to leave no if I don't want to be late." Bella said.

Bella glances at her coffee cup and downed the little bit of coffee left in the cup. She took it over to the sink and rinsed it out and set it aside to be washed.

"Just let me get my bag." Bella said.

In the guest room Bella checked her bag for the third time, making sure it contained everything she need for work that day. Everything from her phone to her files and a small notebook was there. But most of important of all was her sisters old diary that Bella prayed held some kind of clue to why her sister disappeared. Her gun—no reloaded with the clip—sat on the bed next to her bag in its holster. She made sure the safety was on the put the holster on her hip. She grabbed her bag from the bed and joined Alice at the door.

Alice didn't stay long after dropping her off at work. She had said something about doing something in the baby's room before Dylan came home to take her out of the day. She would have offered to help but she had her own work to do before she went to help out with the children's carnival her church was throwing.

She had just barely stepped into the station when very tired and weary looking Jasper greeted her. He was dead on his feet from the looks of things.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked.

"I'm good but I'll be better when I can go home and get some sleep." Jasper replied. "We had a man come in late last night after we got back from your house that is and confess to the shooting. We were up all night questioning him. I just got finished booking him."

"That's a good thing right?" Bella asked.

"Still waiting on ballistics," Jasper said. "If they comeback matching then we can charge him."

"It sucks you have to wait. Are you still up for the carnival?"

"I still plan on coming but I don't know if I'll make it or not." Jasper said. "I'm going to crash soon."

"Get some sleep before you come. It's staying open until eleven." Bella said. "But right now I have some paper work calling my name if I want to get out of here for a decent lunch time."

Bella found Jasper in the break room hours later. He was looking much better so she felt safe to assume that he got some sleep.

"You are looking better." Bella commented.

"I took a nap around noon. It didn't sleep as much as I wanted to but it was better than crashing completely." Jasper said. "It helped a little bit; the carnivals in a few minutes so I'm getting a few cups of coffee in me before I go."

"They'll have coffee for adults." Bella replied. "So you will be able to keep your energy up."

"Figured as much, do you want to hitch a ride with me or take your own car?"

"My car hasn't been fixed yet so I either go with you or take a cab." Bella said. "And the only cab drive in town right now is the sleazy one."

"Oh please ride with me. That guy has been suspected of several sexual assaults in Dallas."

"Okay I'll ride with you." Bella said. "I'll meet you by your car in a few."

She smiled and went back to her desk. She grabbed the files that she need and the paper work she needed to fill out and file later on tomorrow. She waved goodbye to peter as she passed him.

Jasper was leaning against his tuck when she walked up. He smiled and turned to open the passenger door for Bella without saying word. He closed the door and ran to the other side of the truck and climbed in. Bella had Jasper stop at the McDonalds on the way and grabbed something to eat before they got to the carnival and that didn't take them long.

There were booths set up along a path white Christmas lights lining each one. The children running back and forth from each booth let them know that the carnival was in full swing. Bella was looking at the line in front of each booth looking for Claire's face.

"Do you see her?" she asked Jasper.

"Not yet, you stay here and I'll go check the other side she could be over there." Jasper said. "If you find her stay where you are I'll come find you."

"I'll text you if I find her." Bella replied.

"I'll do the same." Jasper told her.

Bella watched him disappeared into the crowed. She watched until she could no longer see the top of his head which was a feat in its self because Jasper was so tall. She was on the forth pass of her side when little Claire plowed into her.

"Hey there Claire; are you excited about something?" Bella asked.

"Yes." Claire replied. "I'm excited to see you."

"Well I'm excited to see you too." Bella told her. "And my friend Jasper came with be because he has a picture of a man that might be your dad."

"Really?" Claire asked.

"Yep, he's on the other side looking for you." Bella replied. "I just have to send him a text and he'll be right over."

"Okay," Claire whispered.

Bella took Claire's hand and walked to a small group of tabled before she texted Jasper where they were. Once she finished the text she put her phone up and turned her attention back to Claire. Jasper walked up to them a few minutes later.

"Sorry I got stopped by some of the church ladies." Jasper said.

"That's fine. I told her about the picture and she can't wait to see it even if it's not her dad." Bella told him.

"That's good and all you have to do Claire is shake your head yes or no."

"I know that." Claire said.

"I'm guessing you want to see it now," Jasper said.

"Yes." Claire said sticking her hand out for the picture.

Jasper pulled the picture from his breast pocket and handed it over to Clair. Claire treated the picture like it was the most fragile thing in the world to her. She ran her finger along each side of the man's face.

"Is that man your dad Claire?" Bella asked.

Claire couldn't answer as she had started crying. Bella took her answer as a yes because of the tears streaming down the little girls face.

"Claire it's okay. Jasper can now contact some people and find out if your dad is okay." Bella said. "It shouldn't take him too long now."

While Claire's tears stopped she continued to sniffle a little bit but she nodded that she under stood. Bella picked Claire up and hugged her and continued to tell her everything will be okay. Jasper sat down next to them.

"Is it alright if she kept the picture?" Bella asked.

"Sure, I had more than one copy made." Jasper said. "That one is hers."

"See Claire you can keep that picture if you want to." Bella whispered to her.

Claire took the picture and hugged it to her chest like she wouldn't ever let it go. Bella wouldn't be surprised if Claire would end up keeping the picture on her and hiding it from her mother when she got home.

"Claire; Jasper and I don't want to leave but we have to so we can get back to work." Bella explained.

Claire hugged them both and went to sit next to the woman handing out game tickets to the kids and their parents.

Royce was happy to be home after countless hours of clients who thought that he wasn't doing enough for them. He didn't really care because he did all he could for each and every one of his clients. All he wanted to do what sit back in his chair and drink a glass of his old whiskey. Only thing he liked about the south was that they had good whiskey.

His plan of drinking whiskey in his favorite chair went down the tubes when he spotted a woman in his chair and drinking straight from his bottle of whiskey. He walked right over and grabbed it right from her hands.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he shouts.

"I've come to see you." She replied.

"I've told you to leave town ten years ago and never come back." He told her. "Now I will tell you the following once and only once. Get the hell out of my house and leave me the hell alone."

"I'm not going to leave town this time, because I know you still love me."

"I never loved you. It was just a way to get a release."

"Come on baby you know it was more than just that." The woman said. "You complained about your wife to me all the time."

"And what man doesn't complain about his wife, all men complain about their significant other weather they mean it or not it's called getting the frustration out." he told her. "Now get out of my chair and out of my house now VICTORIA."

"Don't worry baby I know you'll come crawling back to me." Victoria said before walking seductively away.

It had been hours since she had last seen Jasper. She had stayed later that most of the second shift detectives. She wouldn't be going home tonight. Her bedroom was still destroyed and she did not want to sleep on the couch.

"You stayed late?" Peter asked walking over.

"My place is still trashed. It will be Motel 6 for me tonight. My place also hasn't be released yet." Bella replied.

"Sorry about that. We should be done with it by Tuesday at the latest." Peter told her.

"Thanks for letting me know." Bella said. "I've got to finish this before I can go home."

"I figured as much. I have a few of those sheets to fill out myself."

"Its fun ain't it," Bella said sarcastically.

"No." Peter replied with a smile. "I will see you tomorrow."

Bella waved goodbye to Peter as he walked around the corner of the partition to his own desk. She only stayed a few minutes longer before she finally put the paperwork away for tomorrow and locked up her desk.

She walked out of the station expecting to catch a ride with the receptionist that was leaving also but she spotted her car at the end of the lot under one of the working lights. She walked over to it. There was a small red bow with a note attached to it tucked under the left wiper blade.

The note was from Jasper.

_Bella,_

_I brought your car back earlier than I had planned on because I didn't want you to wait for another ride or be forced to walk home or take a ride in the creepy cab driver's cab. _

_~Jasper_

Bella warmed at Jasper's thoughtfulness. She climbed into the car and drove toward the Motel 6. She was halfway there when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and her stomach became in knots that only seemed to get worse as she got closer to the motel. She didn't like staying in them because of Bates motel movie she saw when she was a kid; but she didn't want to put Alice and Dylan out. Her window would be fixed in a few days and she could clean up then.

Her drive only seemed to get worse when a driver with an apparent case of road rage decided to blare their lights through her back window. She motioned for them to go around her but they didn't want to. Instead the continued to ride her bumper, honk their horn and blare their lights. She tried to drive toward the police station but the other driver prevented her from doing just that.

She turned onto a dirt road hoping there would be another for her to use to get away from the crazed driver following her. She was halfway down the road when the car behind her rammed her. Bella slammed on her breaks to keep herself from going over the edge of the road but she was hit again and her car spun and out of control only coming to a stop against a large tree.

She didn't need a doctor to tell her that a few of her bones were broken; she had massive pain telling her that. She also knew that she needed to get out of the car as soon as she could because the gasoline was leaking out of the tank and could blow up at any moment.

Gritting her teeth Bella unbuckled herself and shoved the car door open. It took a few tries to get the door to open. She put both of her legs out of the car and tried to stand up but a rush of nausea caused her to fall to the ground. Gritting her teeth again she pushed herself to move into a crop of closely grown trees.

That small crop of close growing trees was the best place for her to hide. If anyone wanted to find her they would have to be standing right above her. The only thing she had to worry about now was getting help and the pain that was sweeping over her. She leaned up against a tree as darkness took over.


	10. July 17th 2010pt2

Jasper had stayed up late and knew he needed to eat. He hadn't eaten a thing since the hamburger he picked up before going to the carnival with Bella. He also realized that by the emptiness of his pantry that he needed to go grocery shopping but he wasn't about to drive an hour to the nearest Wal-mart because all the in town grocery stores were closed for the night. Finally after getting tired of looking at the empty pantry he decide to go into town and see if anything was still open, when he knew in all likely hood everything would be closed.

He got into his truck, the gas gage told him it was nearly on E and that he should get gas while he was out. It only took him fifteen minutes (this is on a good day) to get to the nearest gas station but it was not a good day. There was a large cow in the middle of the road and no amount of honking would get him to move. He backed his truck up and went down an old fire access road and used that to get to town instead.

But Jasper didn't have luck on his side either. The fire access road had a car –on its roof—burning. When he first spotted it he thought that it was just some bushes that had caught fire and called the fire in.

"I'd like to update my last call." Jasper said. "It is not a brush fire as originally thought. There is a vehicle with an unknown number of occupants inside."

He left the safety of his car and walked closer to the car so he could read the plate.

"Plate number is 2G8-8PS be advised that vehicle is likely that of Detective Isabella Swan."

He hung up the phone after that and did something very stupid –and that the operator just told him not to do—he ran toward the car but only got close enough to see if anyone was inside of it. He heard the sirens just as he stepped back from the car he heard the sirens.

Ten minutes later they all pulled up. Fire Rescue and a squad car carrying two officers arrived. The stepped out of the car and walked up to him.

"Can you tell us what happened?" One officer asked.

"No I'm sorry I can't." Jasper said. "I just happened upon the accident."

"You told 911 that the car belonged to Detective Swan."

"That's because it well at least the plates belong to her." Jasper replied.

"Just stay out of the way please." The officer said officially dismissing him.

Jasper walked back to his truck to sit and wait. There was no way in heck that he was going to leave until they found Bella. His thoughts of food had gone out the window when the numbers and letters of Bella's plate entered his mind. He was jolted out of his thoughts with a tap on his window.

"Do you need something?" Jasper asked.

"We need to find the driver and we need help look since we don't have a lot of people here so—"

"Need my help," Jasper said.

"Of course we do." The officer said. "And your chief and my sergeant said we could use you if we needed to."

"I'll help." Jasper said. "Just give me a second."

The officer nodded and walked away. Jasper took his keys from the ignition and hid them in the glove box. Jasper walked over to where the small group off officers –as another cruiser had pulled up. They had a map laid out on the hood of one of the cars and they were going over it. They were marking out how far to search taking into account that Bella had been in an accident and they didn't know how badly she was injured.

The smoke had started to fill the air so he pulled his shirt collar over his face to keep himself from breathing it in. They were doing a basic line search with each given a flashlight to see in the dark. He went thirty feet into the woods when he first heard a whimpering sound from somewhere close by. He turned back and looked round the area again but the flashlight he wasn't really working so he couldn't see all that much. He heard the whimpering again and walked in that direction.

* * *

Bella woke up again, she could hear voices calling her name this time but she couldn't answer them back. The pain had only gotten worse since the last time she was awake. She gladly accepted the pain because it meant that she was still alive. A long stay in the hospital wasn't something she was looking forward to. She could only hope those calling her name were the good guys.

The snapping twigs she heard didn't help her nerves all that much. They scared her mostly because she didn't know who was causing it. Weather they were good or bad they were going to find her sooner or later and she didn't know which way it would go.

The snapping of a twig just mere feet from her, her hiding spot wasn't a hiding spot anymore. She kept as quiet as she could but the pain didn't allow her to remain quiet as she groaned in pain.

She nearly jumped out of her skin she a flash light ghosted over her face. She couldn't see where it was coming from because it continued to move around. She raised her hand to block the light but it didn't work. The source of the light had grown closer to her.

"Bella," someone called. "Is that you over there?"

She didn't answer them, and it wasn't like she could if she had wanted to. Her mouth and lips had become too dry for her to speak.

"Don't worry. I will get help." She heard someone say before she passed out again.


	11. July 17th 2010pt3

"Ditch the dam truck," She told herself as she drove along.

And driving around looking for a place to drop it and run was what she was doing. She had stolen the truck before she had gone to see Royce after all she needed a ride. She already kept it longer than she wanted but she didn't want to leave it out in front of Royce's lovely house. The longer you kept a stolen car the more likely you would be getting caught with the car unless you had access to a chop shop which she didn't and the redneck she had stolen it from probably reported it earlier.

Finally tired of driving she pulled the truck over to the side of the road and ditched it. She whipped her prints from the car. She grabbed her back and climbed out of the truck and started to walk.

She had been walking for nearly an hour when she spotted the smoke in the darkening sky and the district orange of a flame through the trees. She realized she still had the truck keys and wipes them off like she did the truck and chucks them into the woods.

When the spots of orange were getting bigger Victoria knew that the flames had either gotten bigger or she had gotten closer to the source of the fire. She couldn't see what had caught fire because there were too many trees in the way. She could also see the flashing lights of the fire truck but just barely. She didn't want to risk getting closer.

She continued walking along the road and into town. She didn't want to get spotted by anyone and was careful to hide in the woods as car passed by her on the road. She had a list she wanted to follow. Even her visit with Royce earlier wasn't on the list and that was the only risk that she was willing to take.

Walking wasn't her favorite thing but Victoria knew that it was the only way she could get into town without being overtly noticed because getting arrested wasn't on her list of things to do in next couple of weeks let alone days.

Victoria didn't have to walk all the way into town thought because when she was far enough away from the truck she had stolen and the car that had caught on fire she was picked up by a man named Austin in a rusted out ford Taurus with a bad paint job.

"I'm sorry about the smell, my cousin barrowed the car for his twenty first birthday last night and didn't clean it to well. I was on my way to clean it when I picked you up."

"That's fine." Victoria said. "I'm just glad I don't have to walk anymore."

"Your boy friend was an idiot for leaving you out their all alone. Who knows who would have picked you up if I hadn't?"

"Yeah you can't trust anyone these days."

Bella woke a little bit later to a bright light shining into her face. She moved her hand to block it but was stopped by someone grabbing her wrist.

"Ma'am you can't move right now." Someone said. "You were in an accident and injured quite severely, Can you remember anything?"

"Just headlights of a truck or SUV in my rearview," Bella replied.

"That's good, it's means your head injury wasn't to severe." They told her. "But you don't want to strain yourself to much."

"It hurts." Bella said trying to move her hand again.

"Can't you tell me what hurts?"

"Everything really but mostly my c-ch-chest," Bella replied.

The voice didn't say anything back.

"Okay Kate get ready we're going to have to move her." The voice said. "She says her chest hurts and she has the head injury that needs to be checked out."

"Is she stable?"

"Yes."

"Then buckle in Garret." Kate said. "We're going for a ride."

"Drive safely but fast."

"What's going on?" Bella asked.

"I'm not sure but your heart is having some trouble." Garret said. "We are going to get you to a hospital so they can figure out what is going on with the little bugger."

Bella looked at Garret and mumbled something that was hard for Garret to understand and promptly passed out again. Garret went to work on her again making sure she was stable before Kate hit the gas pedal and sped away to the hospital, after a successful round of CPR Bella woke up coughing pain radiating from her chest outward.

Garret put an oxygen mask on her and kept his eye on her vitals as he motioned for Kate to move. The ambulance started to move with a jerk as Kate had stepped on the gas instead of easing into it.

"If I don't make it tell Jasper that I love him and that I never stopped loving him." Bella said. "Tell him I never stopped."

It was well after midnight and Alice Delco was awakened by her home phone ringing off the hook. She had only just gotten to bed because back pain had kept her away most of the night. The ringing phone didn't help her frustrations in the matter. Her ever loving husband Dylan wasn't there to help her, a forty-eight hour shift at the fire station kept him away. She had too many people she worried about to welcome a call this late. She was the only one of her friends pregnant so no news of a birth would be the reason for this phone call. She snagged the cordless from its cradle and answered. It was her brother.

"You better have a good reason for calling this late. I need all the sleep I can get." She said.

"Bella's in the hospital so I don't think you would want to sleep right now." Jasper said. "You're her medical power of attorney so you have to get over there. She's not conscious; you might be needed."

"How bad is she?"

"I have no clue they won't tell me a single thing."

"What happened?" Alice asked.

"I was getting something to eat and found Bella's car burning on the side of the road."

"How—is she okay?"

"I'm guessing she's okay but like I said they won't tell me anything." Jasper said. "And her car was pretty much gone when I got there. I'm just glad that she's made it out of the car."

"Was she in it when it went up?" Alice asked.

"Alice her numerous injuries didn't include burns of any kind." Jasper replied. "Thank god for that and Please hurry."

"I just have to change and I will be there as fast as my car will take me without having the cops on my tail."

Alice hung up the phone and threw on some of Dylan's old sweats because her best friend was hurt and she didn't have the time to sit around and pick out an outfit. Not when her best friends life was in danger.

"_Bella you have to go back. It's not your time."_

"_But Rose I miss you," Bella replied._

"_And I miss you but you have more people to take care of." Rose told her before disappearing into a pearly white mist._

It was Monday afternoon when Bella finally woke up with an IV in her arm and a tube down her throat. She knew time had passed because the sky outside her window was a clear blue and not the dark smoke filled sky she remembered. She groaned from dull ache she felt and the grogginess left over from whatever they gave her. The tape keeping her IV in place started to itch so Bella started to scratch at it.

"You can't do that." A nurse said.

Bella wanted to tell her that it itched but she couldn't with the tube down her throat.

"Don't worry we'll get that taken out in a little bit. Are you feeling okay?" the nurse asked.

Bella nodded yes

"You have a lot of people waiting for you to wake up." She told Bella. "Now you wait here and I'll go get the doctor so we can get the tube removed.

Bella was happy when the tube was removed. She still wasn't able to talk as her throat was too sore but the soreness should disappear over time. She spent the next few hours after the tube was removed doing test after test and when she was left alone for more than five minutes she quickly fell asleep.

She woke up again hours later, she wasn't alone this time.

"When did you get here?" Bella asked.

"I got here around five, I was having some back pain and Dylan made me come and get checked out. They were just Braxton Hicks contractions. I came straight here when they released me." Alice said. "And stop messing with that IV line."

"It itches."

"They always do." Alice said. "You aren't allergic to anything are you?"

"I don't think so." Bella replied. "Right now I just want to go home but I know I won't be able to."

"Bella you've been in the hospital for a week now. I know I work with dead bodies but I think it's safe to say that you won't be going home anytime soon unless you go AMA."

"I'm not going to leave AMA unless I have to." Bella replied.

"Your heart suffered a lot of trauma while you were out." Alice said.

"How badly," Bella asked.

"I'm not sure exactly but I do know it slowed down dangerously about twice." Alice said. "We've all stayed with you."

"The switch,"

"I'm sorry what?" Alice replied.

"When are you leaving and the next person comes in?" Bella asked.

"Oh that. In about ten minutes because Jasper has something he needs to talk to you." Alice said. "He won't tell me what it's about."

"It is probably just some case he has." Bella said.

"Oh well I can hear his boots clapping down the hallway now."

"You can hear his boots?"

"Yep and I can hear him arguing with Dylan over some baseball games. It's the rangers this time."

"Don't they always."

"They who?"

"You two and how you always argue about sports."

"Oh we argue about more than just sports." Jasper told her. "But the last argument about something other than sports was before Dylan and Alice got engaged and that was like three years ago."

"He didn't speak to me for weeks after that. He was afraid that you would kill him." Alice said.

"He only wanted me to do right by you; which I have and will continue to do." Dylan said. "Now let's get you home."

Dylan walked over and helped Alice out of her chair and out of the room. Jasper waited a few minutes and then took the chair Alice had just vacated. He didn't say anything which made the tension in the room intensify tenfold.

"Do you need something?" Bella asked.

"There is something I need to ask you about." Jasper said. "But I'm not sure if now is the right time or not to bring it up."

"I'm a lot tougher than I look Jasper and at least I can't run away from you." Bella said.

"I know that," Jasper said. "Your house has been released. Peter and I went by yesterday and boarded up the broken window. We left the mess because we wanted you to go through it all and figure out if anything was added or missing that is."

"What about that walk through we did?" Bella asked.

"We did but the mess was so bad that we didn't do a deep search." Jasper said. "We could hardly tell what was missing or not."

"What's so important that you need to come here and see me?"

"I wanted to ask you about a print we found in the master bedroom."

"No one but Alice or I have been up there since I moved in a year ago." Bella told him. "Why?"

"Did you use a moving company?" Jasper asked.

"No. Dylan and some of his co workers helped me as a favor for Alice." Bella said.

"Their prints would be in the system so it can't be anyone of them."

"I know that." Bella said.

"I did to but I would still like a list of those that helped so I can see if they have connections to anyone that could have broken into your house." Jasper said. "But I would have a hard time believing that it was one of them."

"I would too." Bella said.

"I still have the city's workers database to go through but I'm guessing whoever it is doesn't have anything kind of criminal record otherwise they would have popped up already."

"I could have told you that unless they popped up with a connection to another crime but had yet to be identified."

"I know that."

"Of course you do." Bella replied.

"Oh and one last thing before I go, be careful. It's twice now someone has focused an attack on you." Jasper said. "I'm a little more than afraid that they might want you dead even if I have no idea why they would want you dead."

"You are not the only person in this room that wants to know that." Bella snapped. "I've been wondering that since someone sent my car over the side of the road and left me for dead in the burning remains of said car. Now could you please leave?"

And just like that Jasper left without saying a word to Bella. He stepped out of the room and closed her door behind him. The instant he was gone Bella regretted yelling at him but she needed to get her frustrations out.

She was like everyone else in the world and didn't like that someone was out to get her for some reason. There were few people she could think of and most didn't have access to her or were long dead. One was her father who her mother had said ran when she had told him she was pregnant. Bella had a hard time believing this because Renee was one flaky lady.

A knock at the door had Bella hoping Jasper was back but it wasn't it was a nurse carrying a vase with a large arrangement of flowers. They were pretty but not what she would get for herself or what she would want anyone to get her. She was a wild flowers kind of girl.

"Someone wants you to get well." The nurse said.

"I am sure it is just a friend."

The nurse nodded and set them on a table before leaving. Bella waited to grab the card tucked into the flowers. The first side was blank so she flipped it over. It had no threat and said get well and was written in a style of hand writing she didn't recognize.


	12. July 29th 2010

Jasper had just walked into the station. He had just gotten back from seeing Bella in the hospital.

"How is Bella doing?" Peter asked.

"She's fine now but the doctors are a little worried about the trauma her heart suffered, they have no idea why she could have gone through something like that and not have any trouble now." Jasper said.

"Will she be coming back to work?" Peter asked.

"Not sure. Aro had that heart attack three years ago and came back to work about a month later, so I don't see why Bella couldn't."

"That was how it happened with me last year when I took that bullet in the shoulder." Peter said. "But speak of the devil and he shall appear Aro's on his way over."

"Wonder what he wants." Jasper said.

Jasper leaned back in his chair as Aro drew closer to them. He didn't look happy but he didn't look entirely pissed off, so jasper took that as a good thing.

"How are your cases coming?" he asked them.

"Fine as far as I know," Jasper said picking up a file. "We are waiting for the toxicology reports on everyone in the Wilson-Myers case." He added flipping through it.

"We are also waiting for the Ballistics report from the connivance store thing last week." Peter said.

"Well there is nothing you can do about they wait and I hate to do this to you but you've caught half of Swan's case load."

"What about her partner?" Peter asked.

"Transferred out of here the week before," Aro said. "We have someone coming just not sure how long it's going to take them."

"What cases did we win in the shuffling cases lotto?" Peter asked sarcastically.

Aro answered peter's question by dropping a stack of files on to Peter's desk.

"Have fun boys." Aro said before leaving them alone.

Jasper heard Peter mutter under his breath as they both watched him leave.

"Dam our load has doubled." Peter said.

* * *

Bella had been in the hospital two weeks now. Her heart was fine but the doctor didn't' feel safe letter her go because of what her heart had gone though even thought it wasn't showing any signs of trouble now. She would have been okay with the extended hospital stay if the dang doctor didn't act like a three year old who didn't know what was going on.

"Quit moping about the doctor. You will only be here for one more week at the most."

"Sorry but the man has seriously been put on this earth to piss me off." Bella said.

"And I would have been put here for?"

"I haven't quite figured that out yet Jasper." Bella replied. "Now why are you here in my hospital room?"

"Aro handed me and Peter half of your case load and Peter and I would like your files on those cases."

"Hand me my purse."

"I still can't believe this thing made it through that crash." Jasper said handing her the purse.

"I can't either." Bella said. "Dylan told me that he went by before they moved the car and said that I should have been dead."

"Please don't say that." Jasper said as he watch Bella opened her bag.

She dug around in her bag for about two minutes before pulling out a key and laying it on the table in front of her.

"That key goes to the bottom draw of my desk. That draw is where I keep all my files and personal case notes until the case is deemed closed." Bella said. "You can get them but only if you don't show my notes to anyone. The files you can give to whoever is working the other cases but not my notes."

"I get that." Jasper said.

"You have to put the files back when I get back to work and just so you know I do not plan o being out for long."

"I promise to put them back when I'm done or you get back, whichever comes first." Jasper told her as he picked up the key.

"I want my desk to be the way I left it." Bella said. "That means the silly Minnie Mouse stapler better be next to my computer speaker."

"I promise your desk will be as you left it." Jasper replied. "I'll come see you tomorrow."

It didn't take long for her room to quiet down after Jasper left. She had muted her TV because the show playing on it no longer held her interest. It seemed to be a repeat of the morning news just told by new anchors. It didn't take long for the quiet to lull her to sleep.

* * *

Her nap only lasted a few minutes after a code blue alarm for a patient down the hall woke her up. A nurse had come in and calmed her down and checked her vitals and made sure she was alright with all the commotion going on. Once the nurse was gone she un-muted her television so the noise could drown out the sounds from down the hall, not that it helped all that much.

She had moved to put the remote back down when she noticed a paper waiting on the table. She knew it hadn't been there when she first went to sleep. It was crisp and white paper that did not match the stationary the hospital provided for the patients. She grabbed the paper and unfolded it slowly. It was the nearly the same writing as the writing from the flowers she had received a week ago. Only this time the author was back to handing out threats.

Leave the case alone or get out of town. If you don't you'll end up like your sister.

Bella hit the call button.

"Do you need anything?"

"Did anyone come into my room just before the code blue was called?"

"Not that I recall why?"

"I just wonder who wrote this note." Bella said. "Thanks anyway."


	13. August 6th 2010

"I have been here a month doc. My heart rate has been fine for the whole time I've been here. My insurance stopped paying two weeks so if you keep me here you will be putting me in to debt that I do not need. Hell I even passed the stress test yesterday. When can I go home?" Bella ranted.

"I am the Doctor here Miss. Swan. I will tell you when it is okay for you to go home. The lab test I requested yesterday along with the stress test came back okay but your heart rate still seems a little high to me." Dr. Volturi said.

"So there are people outside of the hospital that live with a high heart rate." Bella said. "And they are perfectly fine. Hell even my boss had a heart attack last year and he went back to work a month later."

"Excuse me is there a problem here Marcus?" Dr. Cullen asked.

"No." Dr. Marcus replied.

"Yes there is he acts like I'm an idiot that can't take care of myself. My heart is fine." Bella replied. "Each day he's kept me here for the past two weeks is putting me in debt because my insurance won't pay."

"Dr. Cullen I wasn't saying that she couldn't go home I was just saying that it wasn't a good idea." Dr. Marcus said.

"Look at my charts Dr. Cullen and see what you think." Bella replied.

"Her chart Marcus," Dr. Cullen said.

Dr. Marcus reluctantly handed over Bella's chart. Dr. Cullen sat down in a chair and took a few minutes to look it over. The tips of his ears seemed to get redder as he flipped through the pages.

"Dr. Marcus this file shows me that you have subjected Miss. Swan to unneeded test." Dr. Cullen said. "It also shows from the results of those unneeded test that she should have been sent home three weeks ago."

"I did what any doctor would do."

"I see this as a gross excuse of hospital funds." Dr. Cullen said. "You Dr. Marcus are here by suspended pending review of the cases you have worked for the past year."

"You can't do that."

"I'm your boss so I do have that power to do so. Now go clean out your locker and leave hospital grounds. I will be taking over your cases for the time being."

Dr. Marcus grumbled and yelled on his way out.

"I am sorry about that Bella. I'll take on the cost of the unneeded test."

"You can't do that Dr. Cullen."

"My wife and I are very well off but choose not to flaunt it."

"Oh, I guess I can understand that. Now is there any paper work that I have to sign so I can get out of here or not?" Bella asked

"I will have the nurse bring it in to you."

Dr. Cullen smiled and left the room after replacing Bella's chart at the end of the bed. He bumped into Jasper on his way out. Jasper cocked his head at the retreating doctor.

"Did you scare off the other doctor, because if you did you know you have to be nicer to them, you never know when you'll need them in our line of work."

"Oh I didn't scare the other doctor off. Dr. Cullen caught him in a big lie and suspended him." Bella said. "Dr. Cullen was much nicer than him anyway."

"What was the problem with the other doctor?" Jasper asked.

"He talked to me like I was three years old. I was the one who helped your sister though med school." Bella replied. "Speaking of her I thought that she was the one to visit me today?"

"Alice sent me because she need to rest. Her blood pressure got too high or something like that. She used medical terms I didn't understand and didn't have the time to look up." Jasper said. "I am also here because Alice has ordered me to ask you to stay with me because of your house even though I know you will refuse my offer. Oh and Alice also sent me over with clean clothes for you."

"There's something you are not telling me," Bella said taking the clothes to the bathroom. "I can tell by your tone of voice. So you might as well tell me what you don't want me to know."

"I have been assigned to guard you." Jasper said.

"Why the hell do I need a Guard?" Bella asked.

"I am guessing that the car running you off the road and your house being broken into twice are a few good reasons for you to have a guard."

"My house was broken into a second time?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, we think they were looking for something but there was nothing left behind and we couldn't tell if anything was missing or not."

"Okay how long are you assigned to be my guard?" Bella asked.

"I don't know." Jasper replied. "I guess until they can't afford it anymore or catch whoever is behind all the attacks."

"I can take care of myself." Bella snapped.

"I know you can but the protection detail was ordered by Aro and you and I both know that we can't go against a superior officer's orders." Jasper told her.

"That doesn't really matter I know how to get away from you." Bella replied.

"You may be able to sneak away from me but it wouldn't be for long." Jasper said. "And there is nowhere in this town that you can hide for longer than a day or two unless you are dead."

"Oh my god this so would not be happing if I was a guy." Bella said. "I hate the fact that this wouldn't be happing if I was a guy." Bella ranted. "That really ticks me off. If I was a guy I would be able to go home alone and take care of myself without one single officer following my but home and it's not like anyone but Alice cared about me. Everyone else that did care about me are all gone now."

"That is where you are wrong Bella," Jasper replied. "Alice is not the only one in this town that cares about you. I care about you."

"I find that rather hard to believe." Bella snapped. "Otherwise you would have stayed with me that night. You would have stayed with me when I needed you most."

"Dam it Bella you know I couldn't stay." Jasper shouted. "I could have gone to jail if I had stayed."

"You didn't have to leave you wanted to." Bella replied from the bathroom doorway.

Jasper stood there at the hospital room door looking at Bella. He jaw had dropped as he started to say something but closed his mouth again because he couldn't figure out what he wanted to say. His eyes remained on Bella as he continued to think. He turned around and left the room without a word to Bella or the nurse that came in with the paperwork for Bella.

Bella came out of the bathroom and sat down on the bed. She took the paper work from the nurse and signed where she was told to and handed it back to her. After pacing the floor for a while Bella picked up the phone.

"Calm down Bella." Alice said before Bella could get one word out.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Jasper is on the phone with Dylan in the next room. He freaked out just like you are freaking out now." Alice said. "What where you two arguing about?"

"Who cared about me."

"That's what you were arguing about?" Alice asked.

"Yes. I said you were the only one to care about me since everyone is gone." Bella said. "Then I told him if he did care about me he would have never left and that he wanted to leave. That's when he left the room."

"Bella you seriously have me doubting your sanity right now. Jasper never stopped carrying a torch for you." Alice said. "He's only been on a few dates since you two split and is nowhere near close to being the womanizer people think he is."

"That may be but I don't see him wanting anything to do with me now aft—"

Bella cut herself off when Jasper stepped back into the room. Jasper said nothing to her and she said nothing to him. They could both hear Alice calling for Bella from the phone. Jasper grabbed the phone from her hand and closed it effectively hanging up on Alice.

Jasper purposely walked closer to Bella. He raised a hand up to her face and pushed the hair out of her eyes. He leaned in and touched Bella's lips with his own. Bella stiffened at the touch but soon gave in to it. Jasper dropped the phone on the bed so he could pull Bella closer to him.

Royce had been working in his office quietly for hours and had not been disturbed for the past three. He had stopped for a small break and thought about leaving for the day since he had been working so much. His partner Eric Ryder put a stop to those thoughts when he walked in wearing a grim look on his face. Eric sat down without a word to Royce.

"Do you need something Eric or are you going to continue to stare at me like a piece of art?" Royce asked.

"Do you remember Victoria Hunter?" Eric asked.

"You know very well that I do." Royce replied.

"Have you seen her lately?"

"No I have not. I haven't seen her once in the past ten years. Now why do you insist on bringing her up? The affair I had with her ended long ago."

"Rumors around town are that she's back." Eric said. "And that she has plans to extract revenge on you."

"I have security to take care of any threat she may pose." Royce said. "But thanks for the warning."

"I just thought I'd warn you."

"Yes and I thank you. Please see yourself out." Royce replied.

Eric had left in a huff clearly he had not gotten the rise out of Royce that he had been hoping for. Once the door was closed Royce in a fit of anger pushed several breakable objects off his desk and onto the floor. His secretary having heard the commotion rushed right in.

"Are you alright sir?" she asked.

"Everything is alright. I just accidently bumped my things off. Could you get maintenance to come in and clean it up."

"They are working on the garage doors right now I could call down to them and have them come pick it up."

"No need just have janitorial come clean it up if anyone is in right now." Royce told her.

"I'll do that right away sir."

"I'm sorry." Jasper said pulling back from Bella. "I just came back to tell you that and that I have to drop by the station. I have files I need to get from Peter."

"Excuse me but I have the discharge papers for Bella." a nurse said interrupting them.

"I've already been given and signed them." Bella said.

"I'll come back in a second." Jasper said.

"Sorry about that. Um… did the nurse from earlier explain them to you?"

"No they didn't." Bella replied.

"That would have been Kelly; she's leaving in a week and is barely doing her share of the work."

Bella smile and listened as the nurse explained the paperwork and her medications and what to do if she started to have a reaction to them. She only had to medications so it wasn't all that complicated. She thanked the nurse for explaining things before she left.

Bella grabbed the bag that held the stuff she collected during her stay in the hospital and went to find Jasper. She was thankful that the hospital's policy was that if the patient could walk they walk but a volunteer still had to walk them out. She and the volunteer found Jasper by the elevators. He was talking on his cell phone. She could tell from the tone he was using that it wasn't going his way. Her guess was that it was Aro on the other end of the call.

"I thought you had to be in a wheel chair?" he asked her when he hung up.

"Nope. Policy is if you can walk you walk." Bella replied. "And I can walk so no wheel chair for me."

An elevator ride and short walk later Bella was outside of the confines of the hospital. Jasper pulled the car he was using up to the doors so Bella didn't have to walk half way down the parking lot. He drove toward the police station. He still had to get those files from Peter.

She sat at her own desk while Jasper talked with Peter and Aro behind closed doors. She got curious glances from other officers but none of them stopped to say hello. Bella didn't care she became a cop to help people not make friends.

Bella became sadden knowing she would not be able to work her cases. Though she knew that she had copies of the files and notes in the top draw of her desk she was hesitant to remove them. She also knew that she didn't want them to be found because making copies of files tended to be frowned upon.

Once she was sure no one was looking Bella pulled the drawer open and pushed back all the green hanging folders and picked the case filed up from the bottom of the drawer and slipped them into her bag. When she looked up she could see Jasper's head in the window of Aro's office.

When Jasper and Peter came out of Aro's office they were fuming. Bella didn't know why but also knew that Jasper would not tell her why. Jasper said something to Peter and walked over to her.

"I thought you were going to wait on the bench." Jasper said.

"I was until I felt like someone was watching me," Bella replied.

"I kind of believe that but since I know you there was something else to that but I still have to get you home so I will leave it alone for now." Jasper told her.

Alice had just cleaned her house for the third time in seven days. Her mother told her that she was nesting and that mothers did it all the time when it came close to the time for the baby to be born. Alice did not like nesting. Nesting made her tired.

Since she was done with her cleaning Alice decided to go over and visit with Bella and see how she was faring not that she had been out of the hospital a week and didn't have the nurses or doctors bugging her anymore. Alice kind of wanted to know how the nurses treated Bella because she would be in the hospital soon because of the baby and didn't want any stuck up nurses taking care of her.

She picked up a casserole she had made earlier and walked out to the car. She sat the casserole in the passenger seat and got in. Alice felt like the car had gotten smaller but it hadn't she had only gotten bigger and wouldn't be able to drive the car for much longer.

Bella's house looked the same to her when she pulled up to it. The only difference was the trash can out front and Jasper's truck in the driveway. She parked right behind Jasper's truck and got out nearly forgetting to take the casserole with her.

The front door stood wide open. Alice could not see Bella or Jasper at all. She could tell nothing happened to them because she could hear Jasper's laughter from inside. She walked quietly up the steps and then knocked three times on the wooden door frame. Jasper jumped at the sound and stood to look at the source of the knock.

"You know it's a bad idea to leave a door wide open like that." Alice said closing it.

"Had to leave it open. Bella filled up the house with smoke earlier when she burned cookies she was baking."

"I thought it smelled like something had burned." Alice said. "So where is she at?"

"Bathroom." Jasper replied. "And you should sit down before she kicks my but for not offering you a seat."

Alice laughed and sat down on the couch Jasper vacated moments ago.

"Take this to the kitchen." Alice said holding the casserole dish up.

Jasper took it from her and left the room. Alice stayed on the couch. She muted the TV because Jasper had been watching some horrific movie they were passing off as a horror film. Alice heard footsteps and figured Jasper was on his way back into the room.

"Alice what are you doing here?"

"I just came by to see you and keep myself from cleaning my house for the fourth time."

"You should have called. Jasper and I could have come to you or taken you out somewhere." Bella said. "And I do mean we. He won't let me lift a finger to do a thing. Hell I'm surprised he even let me attempt the cookies earlier."

"I told you that it would help you heal faster but you don't believe me. And that is not entirely true I let you walk on the tread mill at the gym." Jasper said.

"He is ri—ooh." Alice said clutching her stomach.

Bella and Jasper looked at her like something was wrong.

"Are you okay? Do we need to call nine-one-one or even Dylan?" Bella asked.

"No. You don't need to do a thing. The baby was taking pot shots at my rips and bladder." Alice said. "If you don't believe me you can feel for yourself."

"I'll take your word for it but if I find out you are lying I'll kick your but once that baby is out of you." Bella said.

"I'm with Bella on that one." Jasper said.

"Come on Jasper let me drive." Bella said.

"I don't think you can drive at the moment." Jasper replied. "Now get in before we are late to see your doctor."

"Only because I have to see the doctor."

"You act like it's going to kill you and it won't." Jasper said. "Besides you can ask your doctor what they think about you driving."

"You just don't want me driving." Bella said climbing into Jasper's truck.

"You are right about that. I have many reasons not to let you drive my truck. I have the scars on my right arm as proof of that." Jasper said.

"That was my first time driving and you know that. I have gotten a lot better since then." Bella said.

"I have no proof that you have gotten any better." Jasper said climbing in.

They arrive at the doctor's office a few minutes later. The visit was very standard. Bella had not been cleared to go back to work but had been cleared to drive.

"Come on Jasper let me drive. The doctor said I could." Bella said leaving the doctor's office.

"No. You had your blood drawn. It made you too light headed to drive." Jasper said.

"I can drive and you know you are just to chicken to let me," Bella said.

They had just gotten back to Jasper's truck when gun shots started being fired. The first shot hit Jasper's driver side window shattering it. The next few shots hit other cars in the lot along with the side of Jasper's truck. Jasper took his gun out and pulled Bella further to the ground with him.

"Jasper you are hurting my arm," Bella said.

Jasper mumbled a quick apology and continued to look around for where the shots might have come from. He found no sign of the shooter until his head, barely peeked above the trucks bed and the shooter started firing again. He quickly ducked back down until the shooter stopped firing. He peeked back over the trucks bed and spotted a red four door peeling away from the scene.

Once the car was gone Jasper turned his attention to Bella who was huddled against the front tire of the truck.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"I wasn't hit. I have a few scratches from the shattered glass but that's about it." Bella replied.

"Okay then let's go see if anyone else was hit or banged up." Jasper said. "We also have to call the police."

"We don't have to. They are already here." Bella said pointing to a police cruiser pulling up to the doctor's office.

"That makes things a little bit easier for us." Jasper said. "Though not much easier."


	14. August 13th 2010

"So you didn't see anyone fire a gun?" the officer asked Bella like she was talking to a three-year old.

"No I did not. My view was blocked by that truck. I also had blood drawn today so I wasn't exactly a hundred percent." Bella replied.

"So all you saw was nothing?"

"Yes that's what I told you," Bella snapped. "Can I go now? You have my cell phone number if you need to speak with me again. Also I'll have you know I am a detective and I do not like the tone you are using with me."

"Yes ma'am," He replied.

Bella was pretty sure that he rolled his eyes at her as she walked away from him. She gave him her statement and then he proceeded to question her about every little thing she said. She had lost sight of Jasper when the young officer stepped into her line of view before he took down her statement. She checked his truck but he wasn't there. He wasn't even near the doctor's office's front doors. She gave up looking because she was tired and headed back to Jasper's truck to wait for him.

"You're here?" Jasper asked. "I thought you would be talking with the newbie."

"If he had his way I would be. The dam idiot kept on asking the same questions over and over again like I was some three old kid who didn't know what he was saying. Do I look like a three year old to you?" Bella said. "I wanted so badly to smack him upside the head but I knew I wouldn't be like Gibbs and get away with it but I knew I couldn't."

"Why couldn't you get away with it no one was looking at you and it would have been your word against his." Jasper said.

"Because this is real life not TV, and I think I was just like him when I joined the force." Bella replied.

"I think I remember you being something like that in high school and I do know what you are like now so I think that it's safe to assume that you were nowhere near being as bad as him."

"I'd rather not think about that." Bella said. "So I ask you; what do you think of the shooting?"

"I think that are only three possible targets you, me or the good doctor. One of the nurses could be but I don't see why the shooter would have kept it outside the building when all but one nurse was inside and I can't see anyone wanting to hurt Lucy."

"I agree about that but I'm still leaning towards you or me as the target." Bella said "But there is something I need to show you because it's also why I think we were the targets."

"What is it?" Jasper asked.

"I can't show you here. I don't think it's safe to show you here." Bella said.

"Before you show me whatever it is that you want to show me can you tell me why now all of a sudden you want to be open with me?" Jasper asked helping Bella inside.

"Because if I didn't do it now; I would never do it." Bella said. "Sit down I have to go get something."

Jasper sat on the couch and waited for Bella. He could hear her moving around upstairs but he still had no clue what she was doing up there. It wasn't that long later that he heard her coming back down the stairs he turned around to look at her and saw that she had an old shoe box in her hands. She sat the box down in front of him. She sat down next to him and removed the lid. All Jasper saw in side were a bunch of folded up pieces of paper and cards.

"What's all this?" Jasper asked.

"They are all the threats I have been getting since I caught the arson case. You know the one where the barn burned down and the body was found inside." Bella said. "If they are from the same person I don't know but I do know that the hand written ones look like they were written by the same person and the printed ones look like they came from the same printer."

"You should have told someone." Jasper said looking at some of the notes. "Some of these are sick. How could you not tell someone?"

"I'm telling you now." Bella replied.

"You should have told someone long before now." Jasper said. "The person behind these could have been behind you getting run off the road and shot at today. Even when this place got broken into."

"I know that." Bella said. "But I d—"

Bella was cut off by the phone ringing.

"I'll get it." Jasper said walking out of the room to get the phone.

"Swan residence Jasper Whitlock speaking." He said. "May I ask what you are calling about?"

"Well Jasper it's me Peter you know your partner and I have been ordered by Aro to deliver the new to Bella that the body found in the burned down barn has finally been identified."

"Why would you be calling her she hasn't been cleared to work," Jasper said.

"The DNA was run through our system and we got a hit against a fellow officer."

"So a cop was killed?" Jasper asked.

"No it wasn't a cop but the sibling of a cop. One that we know very well I might add." Peter replied.

"Who was the body related to?" Jasper asked.

"The DNA came back to a connection to Isabella Swan." Peter said. "I think the remains belong to Rosalie King, because the DNA was a Female and the only female..."

"Bella's sister."

"I know and they plan on doing a facial reconstruction you know like on that show Bones but with clay instead. Now do you want to tell her or do you want me to do what Aro ordered me to do?" Peter said.

"I can do it. It's something that should be done in person and I'm already here." Jasper replied.

Jasper hung up the phone and walked back into the living room where Bella had stayed. He guessed the look on his face gave him away because Bella jumped up and started asking questions.

"Jasper who was that and why do you look like someone killed your dog?" Bella asked.

"No no dog was killed but that was Peter. He asked me to give you some news about one of your cases." Jasper said.

"What news? What case?" Bella said

"The burned down barn and the body was identified." Jasper said.

"Isn't that good news?" Bella asked.

"Yes it is but Bella the DNA from the body said that whoever the body was had been related to you. The DNA was female so we are assuming that it belonged to your sister Rosalie."

Bella didn't reply to him. She closed up and turned away from him. She soon fell asleep mumbling about solving her sister's murder. Jasper walked over and covered her with the blanket.

Bella had woken up a few hours later curled up on the couch with a blanket over her. She pulled the blanket off of her and pushed herself up off the couch. She went to the bathroom and washed her face; hoping the cool water would calm her down. It was while she was drying her face that she realized Jasper hadn't tried stopping her like he normally did.

Bella did want to move that far from the living room. So she stayed in the down stairs bathroom and took a shower. She felt freaked out being in her house alone with no one else there after it had gotten broken into. She just finished running a brush through her hair when she heard her front door open.

"Bella," she heard Jasper's voice calling.

"I was taking a shower." She called back to him.

"Well hurry and finish up I brought food with me." Jasper replied.

* * *

Victoria was mad. She had just pulled up to the house that had taken her days to find when a black truck pulled into the drive way. She watched as a russet skinned man climbed out of the truck and entered the house with only one nonchalant glance at her car. He held a bag from some chain restaurant in his hand.

In a fit of anger she slammed her hands down on to the steering wheel. She hurt her hand ten times more than she damaged the steering wheel. She would just have to wait until the woman was no longer under the watch of her little guard dog.

She was near the end of the road when she spotted a pile of old brick in one of the yards. She stopped the car climbed out and grabbed one and hurried back into her car. She turned back around and stopped in front of the house she was watching moments ago. She got out of the car and threw the brick in to the large front window; sending it to the ground in a thousand little pieces.


	15. August 14th 2010pt1

"They say that your window can be replaced sometime tomorrow." Jasper said.

"Stupid freaking kids," Bella snapped. "Where the hell were their parents? They should be watching those boys and telling them that throwing rocks at windows is not a good thing no matter how much money they are given. I'm starting to think I should just move."

"That would not be a bad idea but you just bought this house and the housing market isn't all that great, it would probably be a better idea to install some cameras around the place for extra security especially until who ever paid them to throw the rocks is caught." Jasper said. "Now I have the day off and I say we go and do something once I get your window boarded up."

"I want a say in anything we do." Bella said.

"I don't really have a plan of where to go. I normally sit at home and catch up on TV I have missed while working." Jasper said. "We could go to Austin since there isn't that much to do here in town."

"Austin it is then." Bella said. "But why do you want to take me somewhere?"

"Because I don't think Rose would want you to get all depressed over her death a second time." Jasper said.

"I didn't really know she was dead the first time, I guess I always hoped that she was still alive." Bella replied.

They had been gone for hours and Jasper finally pulled back in front of Bella's house. Their day had been for lack of a better word eventful at least for them it was. Jasper had shown her around parts of Austin she had never been too which was shocking because she lived so close. They spent the day walking around and their last stop ended up being a bar and grill, they left without eating any food because some weird looking guy kept on asking Bella to dance and she didn't want to. Jasper told the guy she didn't want to and to just leave them alone. They guy replied with a direct punch to Jasper's face.

"I am really sorry that guy punched you." Bella said.

"It's fine. That guy should have never laid his hands on you." Jasper said. "And further more should have taken his hands off you when you said you didn't want to dance."

"See it's still my fault you got hit. No matter which way you put it it's my fault you got hurt." Jasper said.

"I am not hurt. All I have is the beginnings of a black eye and if it ever happened again I would gladly take another punch." Jasper said grabbing her hand. "I'd take a hundred punches for you if it meant you went unharmed."

Bella pulled her hand away and turned to climb out of the truck when Jasper stopped her and before she could say anything Jasper had kissed her just like he had kissed her when she was in the hospital. Only this time Bella didn't stay still, she pulled away from him and climbed out of the truck's cab and made a bee line for her front door.

"Bella please come back and let me explain." Jasper called after her.

"No. I can't do this right now Jasper, just leave me alone." Bella said. "I have to think something's over and I need to do it by myself."

Bella made it into the house and leaned against the door after she closed it. She had no idea what to do. She had her feelings for Jasper hidden in the back of her mind for as long time and now they were out and running around in full form. She didn't care that they were she was just scared that she would end up getting hurt like the last time she was with him. Just because she was no longer a teenager didn't mean she wouldn't get hurt. Emotional scars took longer to heel and she still had hers.

She peaked out the window to see Jasper climb back into his truck and drive away. She slumped back against the door the heavy weight off her emotions falling onto her, making her wish she had her sister and mom again, but Rose had murdered in cold blood ten years and her body recently discovered and her mom take by cancer when she was younger. Just thinking about them made her sick and had her bolting for the bathroom.

After she cleaned herself up Bella curled up on her couch loneliness seeped it. She was just starting to realize how much Jasper meant to her and how much he had been there for her the past couple of weeks. Her mind started to whirl around with all the thoughts of what she could, would or should do about everything.

There was only person alive that she could talk to about all this was Alice and she was Jasper's sister and that would make things more than a little awkward for them and she didn't want to go there. So she turned to a book of old letters she kept from her sister. The first letter was the most important one because she wrote it just before their mother got sick and passed away.

_**Bella,**_

_**I know you have just started your junior year and can't wait to be on your own, but take things slow you'll miss things more than you know when they aren't there anymore and that goes for more than high school friends or classes it goes for everything. I miss seeing you every day, you are my sister and I'll love you till the day I die.**_

_**Love Always,**_

_**Rose**_

Alice has just gotten off the phone after a very lengthy phone call from Jasper. She wanted to sit down and relax but her door bell ringing had her heading for the door instead of the chair that she wanted to be in. She opened the door to see Bella standing there soaking wet. She pulled Bella into the house and out of the rain. She pushed Bella into the bathroom as she went to find dry clothes Bella could wear.

"You'll have to settle for these. Everything else I have will fall off of you." Alice told her.

"Those will be fine." Bella said taking them from her.

"The towels on the rack are there for you to use to dry off." Alice told her. "And after you are done changing you can come and tell me why you are here, though I am pretty sure why you are here."

"Uh... sure." Bella mumbled.

Alice left the bathroom giving Bella time alone so Bella could change. She sat down in the recliner to ease the weigh off her swollen ankles. Bella followed her out a few minutes later in the clothes Alice had given her and her hair still a little damp.

"Sit down and tell me why you are here." Alice told her.

"The only think I can say is Jasper." Bella replied sitting down on the couch.

"I figured as much. I had just gotten off the phone with him when you knocked on my door but he didn't tell me what happen." Alice said. "He said he wanted to warn me that you might show up soon looking well like you did."

"Well he was right, I did show up." Bella said. "And I still have no idea what to do and I find it hard to talk to you about this kind of thing you are his sister after all."

"Well then tell me what has you so riled up about my brother?" Alice asked. "You haven't been that riled for ten years so why are you all in a tizzy now?"

"I am in a tizzy as you so well put it because twice now," Bella told her. "I have no clue how to go about anything. He acted like nothing happened after the first time it happened. The whole situation is confusing to me."

"Bella, honestly the only thing I could tell you right now would be to tell him how you feel. I think it's obvious he feels something for you otherwise his kissing you is cruel and Jasper isn't that type of guy." Alice said. "My brother may naturally be smart in just about anything but when it comes to girls he become an idiot especially when it comes to you."

"She is right about that you know," Jasper said from the front door way making both girls jump.

Alice stood up as quickly as her pregnant body would allow and went over to shut the door behind Jasper.

"I am going to leave you two alone now. You two seriously need to talk and work things out because calling me and coming to my house like this won't be happening in a few weeks." Alice said before she walked out of the room.


	16. August 14th 2010pt2

Bella and Jasper did not get to talk like Alice wanted and pushed them to do. Jasper's phone had rang just before he was going to open his mouth to say something. It was an accident down by the highway. It sounded pretty bad from what Bella could hear of the conversation.

"I really have to go. It looks pretty bad, they think it might be more than an accident and they might be the same person that ran you off the road a month ago." Jasper told her.

"Go, I can get myself home." Bella said. "Or stay here if Alice makes me."

After an awkward hug Bella watched as Jasper drove away for the second time that night all though her mind wasn't as muddled as before.

Alice dropped her off at home a few minutes later. She was much more comfortable at home than she was at Alice's house, though the home was just as cozy. But she was always more at home at her own place than she was at anyone else's, even now with the wood covering the front window.

The wood covering the window did bother her a little but not enough to keep her from staying in her own home. So to keep herself from going crazy Bella grabbed the case files she had snuck home from the station. She looked at each and every photograph until she had it ingrained in her brain along with the statements that went with them. She got to the last two photographs without finding anything out of place and it was the close ups of the burn patterns that peaked her interest. The burn patterns from the barn where her sister's body was found did not match those from the previous arson scenes. Without a second thought she picked up her phone and called Jasper.

"I know you are going to be really mad at me for this but you can read me the riot act later. I found something funny with the burn patters from the barn where my sister was found and the pervious crime scenes." Bella said. "Please just drop by my place after you get this message, it'll be easier to explain to you."

As she waited for Jasper to arrive Bella cleaned up the house a little bit. She neatly stacked the files and the notes she had taken on a small table in the corner of the room.

Jasper arrived a few hours later with a six-pack of coke and two medium pizzas in hand. He didn't look all that happy about why he was there but Bella hadn't expected him to be.

"What's with the food?" Bella asked.

"I figured you would be hungry by now and you could eat while explain whatever it is that you found." Jasper said.

"Oh," Bella replied. "And there is something else I have to ask you about."

"What is that?" Jasper asked.

"Why are you gone so much if you are supposed to be protecting me?" Bella asked. "I can protect myself so I don't have a problem with that."

"The office is short staffed right now. We lost like two more officers to cities or towns that are paying more than we do." Jasper said. "But there is usually an unmarked car outside whenever I have to go and do something. I can refuse any calls that come in if you want me to?"

"You can't leave Pete to work the cases alone." Bella said. "And I can protect myself."

"You shouldn't have to." Jasper said.

Jasper reached up to tuck a lock of Bella's hair behind her ear. Bella's blush kicked in and spread across her face. She turned away from him to regain her composure. Jasper realizing this turned his attention to the pizza boxes in front of him.

"Do you want a slice from the supreme or the four meat?" Jasper asked.

"I'll take one of both for now." Bella replied. "I'm going to go get us some glasses for the soda."

Bella left the room and came back in a few minutes later carrying two glasses full of ice. She set the down on the coffee table so they could be filled. They had had finished eating when just over half the pizza was gone.

"You want a cookie?" Jasper asked.

"Uh… sure," Bella said taking the cooking from Jasper. "What's with the words all over the package?"

"It was supposed to be their answer for the fortune cookie but it didn't turn out like they wanted it too." Jasper explained. "What does yours say?"

"It says that my happiness is in the future." Bella told him crumbling the wrapping up and tossing it on to the table. "And the source of my sadness is in the past."

"It certainly fits you." Jasper told her. "You are sad about your sister who died years ago and that just might mellow out now that you know what happened to her."

"It won't mellow until I know who and why but I do concede that it fits." Bella said. "What does yours say?"

"Great fortune lies ahead," Jasper said. "Cop out for a _fortune _if you ask me.

"You could win the lottery," Bella said. "And fortune could mean many things."

"That is true." Jasper said turning to pull Bella closer to him.

Thought she was smiling on the outside Bella wasn't on the inside. She felt guilty; she lied to Jasper about what her cookie wrapper said. Not that she wanted to keep anything from him she just felt like it wasn't the right time to talk about it and she wanted to wait for the right moment. There was too much drama in her life at the moment.

"So what is it that you wanted to show me?" Jasper asked breaking the awkward silence.

"Hold on a second I need to find them." Bella said shifting things around. "Sorry I guess I forgot that I moved them."

She got up from her seat and walked over to where she had moved the files. She grabbed them and brought them all over to Jasper. He had cleared the trash allowing them to lay the photographs out.

"So which ones did you want me to look at?" Jasper asked.

"These two and they are pictures of the burn patterns from the scene where my sister's body was found and a few from the arsons that happened in the few weeks before that. I was told that gasoline was the source of all fires but the patterns say differently."

"The one from where your sister was found has a smoother burn pattern compared to the rest of them. It's odd because you don't see that very often in arson cases." Jasper told her. "Can I see the statements that go along with the pictures?"

"Here," Bella said.

* * *

Jasper woke up the next morning with a blanket draped over him. He pulled it off of him as he sat up on the couch he had apparently fallen asleep on. He scratched his head as he looked around the room; it was much cleaner than it was when he had fallen asleep the night before. He turned to look behind him when he heard footsteps. It was Bella.

"Hey you're finally up." Bella said. "It's almost noon, I called to say that you would be in late but they told me you had the day off."

"Yeah I do, but I have things I need to take care of today unless you want me to stay?"

"Like I said several times last night, I have a gun and know how to use it," Bella replied. "Do you want any coffee?"

"That sounds really good right now." Jasper told her.

Bella smiled and went back to her kitchen and made a steaming cup of hot coffee for Jasper. She sat it down in front of him.

"Let me know when you are leaving." She told him. "I'll be upstairs."

"I will." Jasper replied.

Jasper knew that she was nervous about being alone even if she said otherwise; he would be the same way if he was in her position; but Bella wasn't a woman that could be scared easily and whoever was stalking her would be in for a world of hurt when ever Bella found them. She was small but packed quite a punch when she was angry and she would not go down like the weakling the thought she was. He drained what was left of the coffee before going to find Bella.

He found her upstairs putting what was left of her things back where they belonged. He knocked on the doorframe to get her attention.

"I just wanted to let you know that I was heading out." Jasper said.

"Thanks for letting me know." Bella replied. "I'll call you if I need anything while you are out."

Jasper nodded and left the room and seconds later the house, he had work to do.

Two hours later he entered the last Flower shop in Carlen. He knew even before he left Bella's house that he was going to try his hardest and find what shop sold the flowers sent to Bella while she was in the hospital. It was a small rinky dink shop in gritty strip mall just off the highway. Flowers fake and real covered just about every available surface. It took him a while to find the cash register in the middle of it all.

"Excuse me ma'am, I'm from Carlen PD and I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

"All I can do is try." The woman replied.

Jasper nodded and reached into his pocket and pulled out the small baggie. It held the card that came with the flowers sent to Bella. He showed it to the woman.

"Do you recognize the car or the printing on it?" Jasper asked.

"This card is one of several we keep on hand. Whoever orders the flowers picks a car and writes the message or has one of us writ it." She said. "The printing looks familiar but I can't place it."

"Can you tell me anything about the person the writing might belong too?"

"Well we don't get much business from the town's people but a few weeks ago we had this guy come in and acted like he didn't want to be seen here. He had his face all hidden in those big sunglasses like mirrors, never did get his name but I would recognize him if I saw him again."

"Are you sure that man wrote this note?" Jasper asked holding up the card.

"Without a doubt, his behavior had him sticking out like a sore thumb. He was the only customer that insister writing a note on the card." She said. "Everyone else that came in around that time was happy to have me write a generic message because they wanted it to look nice."

"Thank you for your help ma'am."

"You're welcome."

Jasper turned to leave the shop but stopped.

"Is there something you forgot?" The woman asked.

"Yes, I'd like a single red rose," Jasper replied.

"That will be a dollar fifty," the woman said handing him a single red rose.

* * *

Bella finished cleaning up her spare bedroom about an hour after Jasper walked out of the house. She double checked to make sure everything was in place before she went on to the master bedroom. She shivered at the thought of it. It was the worst out of all her rooms and she knew it would take the longest to clean up at least that's the way it looked to her.

She looked at the remains of her master bedroom and decided that she wouldn't be able to sleep in the room if it looked as it did before the break in. She walked out of the room and out to the shed in the back yard and grabbed a can of pain Alice had given her a while ago.

Just as she was reaching for the door know when the hairs on the back of her neck started to stand up like they knew something bad was going to happen or someone was watching her. She looked around the yard but didn't say anyone or thing watching her. Bella shook the feeling off and made her way inside along with the paint can. She no longer had the feeling the need or want to paint Bella set the can on the ground. She curled up on the couch only moving when her phone rang.

Alice called thrice, Dylan called twice and Jasper had yet to call even once.

* * *

It was late in the evening and nearly dark and Royce wanted to get home, have a few drinks and go to sleep but he had cases that had to be taken care of before he would be able to go home. He only looked up from his desk when someone knocked on his door.

"You can come in," He called.

It was his secretary behind the door. She was holding a box with a pile of mail on top. I've already weeded through the junk mail and put it in the bin, just let me know if you want to look through it before it goes to the shredder."

Royce nodded and watched her leave the room after sitting the mail down. He grabbed the box first and opened it –a thank you gift from a former client and then went to the envelopes. Most of them were request for him to represent a client, the rest were bills that could wait to until tomorrow morning. The one envelope that stuck out was a lime green envelope that you would send a birthday card in. It had to have been stuck in the law office mail box because there was no post mark on it.

He picked his letter opener up and cut the envelope open, a card much smaller than the envelope fell out once the envelope was open. There was one line of small black block lettering on the card. That one sentence alone spooked him. He pulled his lighter from his pocket and burned the card in his ashtray. The flames dancing in his eyes as it burned.

He waited until the card was completely gone before dumping the ashes into his trash bin. He grabbed his coat and any files he would need at home and left the building for the night. He drove to a small pawn shop on the other side of town and walked in. The man standing behind the counter raised his eye brows at him. Royce walked up to him and put both his hands on the counter.

"I need a gun and I heard you are the one to come to." Royce told the man.

* * *

"You can go back to work today Ms. Swan but if you take it easy, that means desk duty only." Dr. Clark said. "We don't want you going to the hospital again but come in again in two weeks and we'll see if that's changed."

"Can l go now?" Bella asked.

"Yes and here is your release note."

"Thank you Dr. Clark." Bella said taking the note from the woman and to her brand new rental car where Jasper was waiting.

"So how's it go?" Jasper asked.

"I can go back to work today if I want to; which I don't because I still have my house to clean up but I figured I could drop the release note off to Aro anyway." Bella said. "After I drop off the note I will be going home where I'll write a letter to my brother who won't really even care."

"They why bother writing him?" Jasper asked.

"Because I got a package from him and his wife when you were in Austin with Peter last week," Bella told him.

"Are you sure it was from him?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, there was a picture of him and his wife with their new baby, along with a letter that had his wife's contact information."

"I get it." Jasper replied. "Should I head over to the police station now?"

"Yes, and you can go ham it up with Peter while I find Aro." Bella said. "I know you two can find something to talk about after all you have several cases to solve."

Jasper rolled his eyes at the sarcasm he heard in Bella's voice. Bella just smirked at him and told him to drive to the station. They were there in what felt like no time. She found Aro in his office two minutes after arriving at the station.

He was gulping down another cup of coffee and the ever present package of powdered doughnuts. Bella knocked on the wooden door frame to get his attention.

"What are you doing here swan?" He asked. "I thought you were out till next week."

"Nope, I was given the all clear for light duty today and thought that I would drop of the papers today." Bella replied. "But I won't be in until tomorrow, gun and badge are locked up at home."

"Where are you papers?" Aro asked.

"Uh… sorry here they are." Bella said pulling them from her back pocket.

"They look to be in order, I want to see you in here at nine tomorrow."

After effectively being dismissed by Aro, Bella left his office to find Jasper. He was still at his desk talking with Peter. She wasn't sure what they were talking about. She stayed away until the conversation seemed to slow down.

"Are you done here?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, and I am ready to go." Bella replied. "I will see you some other time Peter."

"Oh I'm going to be at your place later to help Jasper out with anything that needs to be done." Peter replied.

"Okay then, I guess I will see you later." Bella said.

She waved goodbye to Peter and walked out to her rental car with Jasper following close behind. She climbed in and waited for Jasper to climb into the driver's seat knowing that he would rather drive than ride.

"Looks like your brother has sent another package," Jasper said.

"I didn't expect to get it that fast." Bella said. "It must be his wife's doing."

Jasper parked in front of the house. He climbed out and out of habit ran over to Bella's side of the car and opened the door for her. He walked behind her as they made their way to the house. He picked up the packaged from the step so Bella could unlock the door.

"I wonder what they sent this time; the box feels kind of heavy." Jasper said. "And you are going to need scissors to cut through all this tape."

"Set it on the table I'll get the scissors." Bella told him.

She dug around her junk draw and found the scissors she was looking for and handed them over to Jasper. She also found a pocket knife and letter opener.

"Here, I also found a pocket knife and letter opener you can used whatever one you want." Bella replied handing the devices over to him.

"I got it." Jasper said. "Weren't you going to change?"

"Yeah, I'll go change and be back in a few." Bella said.

Jasper nodded and kept his attention on the box as he started to cut the tape away and Bella left to change. The box wasn't that large just six inches wide and twelve inches long. He assumed that whatever was sent was breakable because even the seams of the box were tapped shut, making it harder to open.

When Bella walked back into the room, Jasper had the brown packaging paper strewn across the table.

"So what did he send me this time?" Bella asked.

"Don't know yet, I was just about to cut the tape so I can get the flap to open."

"Oh," Bella said.

Jasper cut the last bit of tape and lifted the flap. It wasn't a gift that anyone would want. It was a clump of wires and some kind of explosion.

"Bella I don't think your brother sent this package." Jasper told her. "Because if he did he really hates your guts and wants you dead."

"Why?"

"There is no time to answer," Jasper said pulling her toward the front door.

Bella ran as fast as she could to keep up with Jasper. They had barely made it down the front steps when the bomb went off. The resulting explosion knocked them to the ground.

* * *

Mrs. Esme Cullen had been doing the wash in her basement when she felt the ground shake. She didn't think that it was an earth quake. She rushed up stairs to her kitchen to call Carlisle but one look outside had her calling nine-one-one.

"My neighbor's house is on fire."


	17. August 23 2010

"Stay down," Jasper said covering Bella's body with his own. "It's not safe."

Bella did as she was told and peaked out from under her arms to see what was left of her house up in flames. She screamed and covered and head even more when a second explosion when off. Jasper tried as hard as he could to calm Bella down but she was not having it. Bella continued to cry for all the things in her house that could never be replaced the things that meant the most to her.

"Come on we better move," Jasper told her as the sirens got closer.

Jasper pushed himself up from the ground and then helped Bella up. He led her across the street where he hoped they would be safe. He limped the whole way because his leg was injured from the blast. He made sure Bella was okay before he eased himself down next to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I am okay Jasper," Bella replied. "But I am not so sure about you though, your leg is bleeding and it looks like you arm could be bleeding too."

"I'm fine, they're just flesh wounds." Jasper said. "I probably twisted it too."

Bella felt like he wasn't telling her the whole truth about it but she didn't press the matter with him. The fire trucks had pulled up and the fire fighters were piling out of the trucks ready to fight the blaze that was taking over Bella's house.

After being woken up Victoria was a very angry. She had a hard time getting to sleep in the first place and the explosion woke her up. Even as the minutes past her anger continued to rise. A knock on her door drew her attention away from the window and the smoke cause by the explosion.

"I didn't think I would see you again." She said after opening the door to reveal and older looking man.

"I had to come see you," He replied.

"You shouldn't have, you know could blow the whole thing by being here now?" she replied.

"I know that but I had to come see you after I found the note with your new address. I hadn't realized you were so close." The man said holding up the file. "I also came because I received these a few weeks ago."

"How the hell did they get these?" Victoria asked looking through the file.

Victoria knew from the back ground of the pictures in the file when and where the photos were taken. The fact that someone had taken them and sent them to her father worried her.

"Those pictures are why I was hoping you would help." Her father replied. "I was also thinking that we should move things up a bit."

"Oh daddy you have nothing to worry about. I have it all handled and no one will ever know you were involved." Victoria said. "Your little girl won't let anything happen to you."


	18. August 23, 24, 25, 26 2010

The hard plastic chair was not where Bella wanted to be sitting; but she didn't want to be any farther away from Jasper. He was being treated and not one single nurse would tell her a single thing about him. Their attitude toward her wasn't appealing all that much either but she wasn't going to let that cause her to leave. She wanted to know how Jasper was doing and she wasn't going to leave until she found that out.

She jumped out of her chair when she spotted the doctor she thought was taking care of Jasper and walked over to him. She knew the doctor well so hopefully he would tell her something.

"Excuse me, Carlisle can you tell me how Jasper doing?" Bella asked.

"Oh, Bella I can't right now I have to get to surgery." Carlisle replied. "I can talk to you in an hour if everything goes alright."

"Please tell me if he's alright, I've been waiting hours." Bella said. "And I've had to deal with snooty nurse the whole time too."

"Sorry about that but the only thing I can tell you is that Jasper is fine. You would have to be family for me to say anymore."

"That's fine and you told me what I wanted to know." Bella said. "Thank you Carlisle."

Carlisle nodded at her and walked away from her. Bella was glad that she knew him and that he wasn't a snooty doctor because he saved several lives a day. Bella contributed that to the fact that he was a doctor in emergency room and had Esme for a wife. She sat back down in the chair she had jumped out of and continued flipping through the pages of the magazine she had dropped it no longer held any interest for her.

"Hey Swan; when are you going to bring the car around, I won't be able to walk that far at the moment." Jasper said.

Bella's eyes shot up from the magazine to the man in the wheel chair in front of her.

"What the hell—how long have you been there?" Bella asked.

"Only about ten minutes," Jasper replied. "It was long enough to know that you weren't reading the magazine and that you were just staring at it."

"I'll go and get the car now." Bella replied her blush spreading across her cheeks.

"See you in a few then." Jasper said.

Bella shrugged and went to get the car. She had parked it at the far end of the lot when she first got there because she saved the closer spaces for those that need them. When she got to her second rental car in as many weeks she notice a flyer under the wiper blade but there weren't any on the cars on either side of her. She flipped it over to see what it was.

Bella was scared at what she saw. A picture of her sister at a party talking to a man whose face she couldn't see. She stuffed the picture into her pocket and climbed into the car and pulled around to pick up Jasper.

"The police have not revealed the cause of the explosion at this time. They are keeping details of the case quiet and have kept our news crew from getting to close to the scene." The reporter said. "But scores of witnesses have told us that a well known Carlen police officer was taken from the scene to the hospital. There is no word yet on the officer's condition and or if they were in the home at the time the explosion happen."

Alice stared at the television screen in horror. A sky few of the street was shown and the camera man paned the camera up and down the street a darken square near the middle of it. Alice knew that was where her best friend's house once stood.

"Dylan you need to get in here now!" Alice screamed.

The man in question had rushed out of the bathroom mid shave; he slid on the hardwood floors.

"Is the baby all right is it coming?" He asked.

"The baby is fine," Alice said. "However Bella's house is not. Look at the news. That is Bella's street they are showing."

"Uh… I got to get cleaned up. I'll be back in a moment."

Dylan left the room and cleaned up. He hated to leave Alice alone even for a moment. When he came back to the living room after cleaning up Alice was still on the couch watching the same news report again. Dylan's ear was glued to his cell phone. After mumbling a thank you he hung up and turned toward Alice.

"Alice I just talked to Luke; he was there at the scene. Bella and Jasper were at the scene and had left a bit before he got there following the ambulance." Dylan said. "He wasn't sure who was inside, only that they didn't have life threatening injuries."

"That doesn't really make me feel all that better." Alice snapped. "I need to know who it was and if it was Bella or Jasper if they were okay."

"Fine I'll call Bella and Jasper both to see if I can get a hold of one of them."

"Oh please do," Alice said. "And thank you." She told him.

Dylan rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone. He dialed one number and got no answer so he dialed the second.

"Hey this is Dylan where are you?" He asked. "No I asked because Alice is sitting here going out of her mind worrying about the two of you."

Dylan had paused as he listened to the person on the other end of the line speak, after they had finished Dylan quickly said goodbye and hung up the phone.

"That was Jasper; he said it was only his arm that was broken. He also had some stitches in his leg because of shrapnel. He told me to tell you that he is fine and on his way here now with Bella driving." Dylan said. "Oh and they were not in the house when it exploded."

"Thank you for calling." Alice said.

Bella was tired when she walked into work three days later. She held her head high as she walked in. She didn't want to give them anything to nitpick. She heard the whispers and felt the stares but she didn't care about either one. She headed straight for Aro's office ignoring the whispers and the stares as she went.

"I am two days late but I'm back," Bella said.

"I figured that it would take you a while." Aro said. "Now that you no longer have a house."

"True but I still own the land that it was on so I can rebuild if I want to. I just got to wait for it to be released." Bella said. "I guess they are still looking for bomb fragments to or something like that. I'm staying with a friend until I can find another place to stay."

Bella turned toward the door at the sound of someone knocking. She raised an eyebrow at the man in the door way.

"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't interrupt anything did I," The man asked.

"Oh no worries Agent you arrived just in time," Aro said. "Come on in, Bella I would like to introduce you to Edward Masen, He is an agent with the FBI."

"I kind of got that with the Agent part." Bella said.

"That doesn't matter but what does matter is that He will be joining you on the arson case you are working." He said. "The Wilkerson fire in Oklahoma yesterday the case became federal."

"How do you know that case is linked to any of mine?" Bella asked.

"I can explain that for you." Agent Masen said.

"Then please go ahead and explain to me why the FBI wants in on my case all of a sudden." Bella snapped.

"The MO's are all the same and I mean the exact same." Agent Masen said. "I have all the reports I could show you if you would like me to."

"Of course I would like to see them." Bella said. "It is my case after all."

"Enough Isabella. You two will also be joined by Jasper's partner Peter while Jasper is out on leave." Aro said.

Bella led the FBI agent to her desk.

"This one is mine, and that one across from it is free for you to use during your stay here in Carlen," Bella told him. "And Peter's desk is across the room over there, in case you need him for anything."

"Thanks," Edward replied. "What's he working on?"

"Honestly I don't know but he could be gathering all the case files we'll need." Bella said. "We both have some catching up to do."

"Well Bella these are all the files that we barrowed from you while you were out. I don't know who has the others." Peter said. "But I would like you to show me what Jasper meant about burn patterns."

"Oh the burn patterns I forgot about those." Bella said. "Look at the pictures from the scene where my sister was found and the scene just before that, the source of the accelerant was different from my sister's scene and the ones that came from before and I'm guessing the Wilkerson fire."

"You are talking about the last two pictures in this file here because there's a note saying the need to be reexamined." Edward said.

"Yes I am. See the burn pattern at the scene where my sister was found is much smoother than that of the scenes before and after it."

"She has a point. I'll go to the lab and see if they can explain to me how they came about the results." Edward said. "You don't need me for anything do you?"

"Nope we'll just be running down leads over the phone." Bella replied.

A week later Bella left Peter and Edward to their own devices at the station as she could now go and look at what used to be her home now that it was no longer a crime scene.

She pulled up and parked in front of the now empty lot. It was no longer her home. It was just a lot filled with chard grass and wood. It would surprise her if there was anything salvageable in the wreckage.

"Something told me that you would be here." A voice said.

Bella just about jumped out of her skin at the sound of someone speaking. She hadn't heard anyone walk up. Nor had she seen any car parked out front.

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at home resting." Bella said.

"I was bored and called Peter. He said you left and said that you might need someone." Jasper said.

"And he thought that it should be you,"

"No he actually thought that Alice would be better but with the baby and everything he said I would be second best. Plus she doesn't want to leave the house much." Jasper told Bella.

"Well she's about to give birth so I can't blame her." Bella said. "So I just have to get myself a new place to stay though."

"My building has some openings you should check them out."

"I guess I can take a look at them." Bella said.

"I'll get the listings for you and bring them by the station later." Jasper said walking away.

"Thanks." Bella called.

She had turned away from Jasper and went to work looking for things she could salvage from her home. She found her sisters diary and placed it in a bag. She found a few other things before she finally gave up looking and walked back to her car. She glanced at the land one more time and then turned back toward her car. She climbed in and drove away.


	19. September 4, 2010

Jasper was glad to have the time off from work but the broken arm and cut up leg were not worth it. They only good thing was that he got to watch the baseball games when they first aired instead of the high lights on the ten o'clock news.

Jasper's attention was taken away from the game recorded on his TV to the phone ringing on the table beside him.

"Jasper here," He greeted out of habit.

"Hey man is it okay if I drop by, I need to talk." Peter said. "I can pick up a six pack."

"Well I can't drink with the pain meds I'm on but you can drop by." Jasper said. "I have the game recorded on my DVR."

"All right man I'll see you soon." Peter replied.

"Oh and be careful when you get here I have Jimmy's dog."

"Oh that dog loves me." Peter replied.

"Dude Jimmy just got him fixed so he's not exactly happy."

Jasper was pretty sure he heard Peter yell dam or some other curse word before he hung up. He looked around the apartment and it was fairly clean, only a pile of car magazines on the table but not much else. Jimmy's dog didn't create much of a mess until you fed him or let him outside and spent most of his time in the corner taking in the cool air from the vent.

"I am here and I brought pizza," Peter called though the door like he was talking a rabbit out of a hole.

"Come on in, the door is unlocked." Jasper called back to him.

"How are you doing?" Peter asked.

"Oh I'm good; I just don't want to move around too much." Jasper said. "And I don't like taking those dam pills."

"You never were one to take drugs, not even for fun back in high school."

"Of course I wasn't, I didn't like the way they made me feel and I have seen what they can do to someone."

"There is more than pain pills making you feel all funny inside." Peter replied.

"What in the hell do you mean by that?" Jasper asked.

"Come on I have see the way you look at her, hell even a blind man could see how you look at the girl." Peter said. "Not to mention you two have been getting kind of cozy lately."

"That's only to help Claire. The relationship between Bella and I is purely professional." Jasper said.

"And when was the last time you two talked about strictly her when you were together?" Peter asked. "I thought so."

Jasper didn't answer and could see that Peter had decided against taking that line of conversation any further. They watched four and half innings of the game together. Peter took the opposing team while Jasper took the home team. It wasn't long until Peter was called away.

"Later Jasper, see you Wolf."

Jasper waved and Wolf just perked up his ears.

After Peter was gone Jasper decided to follow up on his leads for Claire's dad. It wasn't until his third call that he got the number of two guys that worked with him on the base. He saved the number in his phone and planed to call another day, he didn't have the ability to stay calm while he was transferred through different channels on the base and figured it would take up most of his day anyhow.

"So are you staying with Dylan and I again tonight?" Alice asked.

"No actually. I signed a lease this morning." Bella replied. "I'm having a bed delivered in about two hours."

"Wow that was fast," Alice said.

"There was an opening at Jasper's building complex. I figured if it was good enough for him it would be good enough for me." Bella replied.

"Those are good apartments. Dylan had one before we got married and got the house."

"I didn't know that. How long did he live there?" Bella said.

"Only a few months before and after we got married."

"Would you have kept it if you didn't get the house you have now?" Bella asked.

"Oh defiantly and I'm sorry but I really have to go now." Alice said.

"Doctor's appointment?" Bella asked.

"Yeah; the doctor wants to see me every week now that I'm getting closer to my due date." Alice said. "My high blood pressure is a source of stress for him."

"Let me know how it goes."

"Well let me know if you need anything for the apartment." Alice replied from getting up for her seat. "And thanks for lunch."

"You let me stay in your house rent free. It's the least I could do."

Bella laid the money down to pay for their meal and walked Alice out to her car. They said goodbye for a final time and Bella helped Alice into her car before she went and found her own car.

She drove towards her new apartment. It was smaller than she wanted but it was better than nothing and a lot better than mooching off her friends. The parking lot in front of her new building was a welcomed sight to her. She found the closest space she could and parked her car.

She was just getting to her front door when the mattress store delivery truck pulled into the lot. Two men jumped out. One of them went to the back of the truck and another walked over to her.

"Were do you want the bed put?" the man asked.

"The bedroom." Bella replied.

The second man had gotten the mattress out and was carrying into the apartment. The first man walked over to the truck and grabbed the frame out of the truck and carried it inside. The second man came back outside and closed the back of the truck and climbed back in. The first man walked back to the truck and grabbed something from inside before walking back to Bella.

"I need you to sign this. Saying the bed was delivered and nothing was damaged." He said.

"Okay." Bella said before she quickly signed the paper.

The man took the clipboard and went back to his truck and drove away. Bella walked inside and went to put her bed together. It didn't take long and she soon found herself lying on her back on her bed. The bed was easy to put together she could have done it blind folded if she had to.

The doorbell ringing kept her from falling asleep on top of her bed. She pushed herself from the bed and went to answer her door. She figured it was new neighbors wanting to greet her and welcome her to the apartment.

"Jasper it's you?" Bella said after opening the door. "How did you know that I'm staying here?"

"Alice told me told me that you moved in. Also the other apartment was taken by a Latino family so I figured that you would be here in this unit." Jasper said. "She also said that I better look out for you because if I didn't she would rip me a new one."

"Sounds like she was having an anger mood swing." Bella said.

"Eh… something like that." Jasper replied. "And this was sitting on your door step when I arrived."

Bella looked to see that Jasper was holding a vase full of black roses. He was also holding a small box.

"You didn't bring those?" Bella asked.

"I would have gotten roses that were red or daises and sunflowers." Jasper replied. "As for the box I have no idea what is in it I just know that it is not explosives."

"And how do you know that?" Bella asked.

"K-9 dog in my truck right now says so. I'm babysitting him for Jimmy while he's on his honeymoon." Jasper said. "He is trained to sniff out explosives."

"That's good. Do you have your Swiss Army knife on you this time?" Bella said.

"Yes." Jasper said pulling the knife out. "I only forgot it once."

Bella took the knife and cut the taped seams of the box. Slowly she pulled the paper off and then pulled the flaps open. She pulled the paper covering the bottom out and glanced inside. On the bottom of the box was a bloody rat.

"Oh my god," She screamed.

"What is it?" Jasper asked.

"L— lo—look inside." Bella said her hands trembling.

Jasper did as Bella told him to and immediately pulled back.

"I am going to get a plastic back from my truck and place this box inside of it." Jasper said. "Then we are going to the station."

When Jasper left Bella picked the box and looked at it. An envelope was stuck to the bottom of the outside of the box she pulled it off and opened it. Inside was a picture of her sister dead she would keep it to herself just like the first one she received.


	20. September 6, 2010pt1

"Excuse me Mr. King but you have a package and it smells really bad."

"Bring it here; it was probably some teenagers who thought it was fun to send dog feces to a lawyer." Royce replied. "Probably got the idea from some stupid move they thing is worth the eight buck you have to pay to go now a days."

"You would certainly be right about that." Ann said as she set the box down on his desk along with the letter opener like always.

"You can leave now; I will call you if I need you for anything." Royce told her.

Ann left the office and left Royce to himself and that putrid smelling box she had to carry to him. Royce sighed and turned his attention to the box. He grabbed the letter opener and cut the tape holding the box together off. The smell coming off the box was far worse than anything he could imagine and only seemed to get worse as he removed the tape. He finally finished opening the box and stared inside in horror. He had started to gag and grabbed his phone.

"Call the police NOW Ann." Royce yelled snapped at her.

Royce had no idea why someone would send him a dead rat; he could only assume it was some very poorly planned out prank and or someone that was very pissed off at him. The police arrived about twenty minutes later just after he had gotten sick in his personal bathroom.

There were two officers; one was young and the other older. He figured the younger one Newton was a rookie and walker was his training officer.

"Are you Royce King?" Newton asked.

"Yes I am," Royce replied. "I received a package that I thought needed police attention."

"Where is the package sir?" Newton asked.

"It's on my desk. I haven't touched it since I opened it." Royce said. "I thought that it was a prank at first by some teenagers who thought it would be funny send something foul smelling to a lawyer."

Officer Newton nodded as he finished taking notes on what Royce said. _Yep defiantly a rookie;_ Royce thought. Officer Newton stayed by Royce and asked him a few questions about the package while Officer Walker went over and checked it out. Officer Walker came away from the box gagging and grimacing.

"I'm going to get an evidence bag." Officer Walker said. "You stay here and watch the package."

"When did the package arrive?" Newton asked.

"I don't know when it got to the building but my secretary Ann brought it to me about an hour or so ago." Royce said.

"Can you think of anyone specifically that would send this to you?"

"I honestly have no clue," Royce replied. "I'm sure I have made quite a few people mad but that happens in my line of work but I don't think any of them were mad enough to send me something like that."

"Well here is my card, call if you remember anything no matter how insignificant you think it might be."

"Thanks," Royce muttered, he knew he wasn't going to call Newton.

He had been about to add something but Officer Walker came back into the office with the evidence bag he had left to get. He was already wearing the latex gloves he'd seen doctors use. After handing a pair to Newton he carefully placed the box inside the plastic bag and sealed it shut.

"I would burn that desk if I were you." Officer Walker said as the duo left.

After decided he couldn't work anymore after seeing the rat, Royce gathered up some files turned off his office lights and left the building. He got in his car and headed for home. His first plan for the morning was to order a new desk.

* * *

Bella Swan had spent her day at the court house running to get to the court room she was to be testifying in about twenty minutes if she got there on time that is.

"Detective Swan, hold up a minute." Someone called.

"What do you need?" Bella asked.

She turned around to see a man about her age in a suit running to catch up with her.

"You are going the wrong way," He replied.

"No I'm not I have to testify and the court room is this way." Bella replied.

"The guy has pleaded guilty, so there is no trial." He told her.

"And nobody thought to tell me that earlier before I spent my lunch break running across the court house." Bella ranted. "I could have been following up on leads."

"I know that, your boss sent me over to tell you. I wanted to get to you before you got this far but luck was not on my side." He said. "Also Jasper Whitlock said that he got a call back from the sergeant that works with Claire's dad. There was something else but I can't remember it."

"Thank you Officer." Bella replied.

"It's Agent, Edward Masen is my partner, all though not much of one right now."

"Well thank you _agent_ but I really have to get going, it was nice meeting yo—"

Bella had been cut off by the sound of gunshots going off. She didn't see anyone with a gun besides herself and the agent she had been talking to. Everyone else had ducked down behind benches and trashcans if they couldn't get inside one of the rooms along the hallway.

* * *

"Hey dad I thought you would like to know that I just left the court house."

"You didn't shot anyone did you?"

"I was not involved." Victoria told him. "It was a man trying to kill his ex-wife because she wanted soul custody of their kids."

"That's good. What is the status of our target?"

"They're still living, I couldn't get close, she also had one of those dam FBI agents with her." Victoria said. "I'll try again in a day or two a week at the most."

"Just don't let it take too long. We'll be found out if it takes any longer."

"It sucks we couldn't move the plan up but don't worry about it dad I'll be fine." Victoria said.

"You know I will always worry."

"I know. Bye daddy." Victoria said.

Bella was glad that she didn't have to sit in the court house waiting to be called on. She had traded the stuffy court house for crime scene and her suit for a shirt and pants she wouldn't mind getting dirty as she worked through the scene. The crime scene was dirty coved with soot and ashes. Everything but the ceiling and upper part of the walls was black with soot. Everything about working the scene was by the book. Taking photographs, measurements and packing up pieces of evidences into bags. They evidence bags would be sent to the lab for testing later.

It was the sound of glass breaking from another room that had Bella running toward it with her gun drawn. She didn't have to go far because a white man in a dark hooded sweatshirt stepped into the room. He saw her and turned to run away from her. Bella ran after him. He had made it down the steps when Bella made the decision to jump. She came down on top of him knocking him to the ground.

"I didn't do anything. I just wanted to get my stuff." The man said. "I had nothing to do with that fire."

"You are still going down to the station," Bella said cuffing the man.

She got up from ground and pulled the man up wither.

"What is your name?" Bella asked.

"Seth." The guy replied.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Why were you in that house?"

"I told you that I wanted to get my stuff." Seth replied.

Bella led him to the car she was using for the day and put him in the back seat.

"I want you to stay here. If you are not here when I come back I will find you and charge you with evading arrest."

"Got it." Seth replied

Bella closed the car door and went to get the evidence she had left in the house. She carried it out in one trip using the plastic tub that was in the car's trunk. She placed it in the trunk because she didn't want Seth to get to it but she doubted that he would. He was probably just in the house looking for a stash of weed he had hid there.

"When we get to the station I want you to tell me everything and I do mean everything." Bella said.

"I already told you everything." Seth said.

"Breaking into a crime scene tells me you can't be trusted."Bella said.

"You can't judge a book by its cover or its first page." Seth told her.

"We'll see about that when we get to the station."


	21. September 6, 2010pt2

Bella walked Seth into the station and directly to an open interrogation room where she would question him. She had left the room to have someone look up any information on him if there was any.

"Hello again Seth, are you ready to talk?" Bella asked.

"I already told you I had nothing to do with that fire. I was only there to get my stuff." Seth told her. "I was only there because I had nowhere else to go after my step mom kicked me out of the house."

"When were you kicked out?" Bella asked.

"A week ago if not longer," Seth replied crossing his arms.

"You said you didn't start the fire but do you have any connection to it?"

"I had nothing to do with that freaking fire. I left my stuff tucked in the ceiling tiles so no one would know I had been staying there." Seth replied. "I left it there while I went to a friend's house to see if I could stay with him for a few days because I notice people were coming around more. The fire was raging by the time I came back. I left again but didn't come back until after the trucks and police were gone."

"So you couldn't have started it by accident like leaving a cigarette unattended?" Bella said. "Or maybe it was something with the electrical?"

"I don't smoke. I can't stand cigarettes. I got burned with them when I was younger by some bullies. I've stayed as far from them as I can."

"Did you see anything that seemed odd or out of place to you?" Bella asked.

"Not much but there was this dark colored truck across the street, there was a guy standing beside it watching the house burn like it was a fireworks display." Seth said.

"Could you point him out if you saw him again?" Bella asked.

"No I couldn't I only saw him from a distance." Seth replied. "I'm sorry but I don't think I'll recognize him."

"That's all I need for now. I can't let you go until your alibi is confirmed as you are our top suspect right now. So I'll need the name of your friend and his address if you can remember it," Bella said. "You'll be put in a holding cell set aside for minors."

Seth just nodded his head and continued to look down at the cold metal table in between them. Bella flipped her notebook closed and took in Seth's appearance. He was tall, lanky and dirty from living in an empty building for a week. She was sure he hadn't been to school at all during that time for obvious reasons. He also looked like he could eat a burger or two.

"Seth I want you to listen to me." Bella said.

Seth looked up at her.

"I know what life is like in a situation like yours. I lost my mother when I was young but I was lucky enough to have my sister by my side for a while but past away too soon also but she was with me until I was ready to be on my own." Bella said. "Your mother wouldn't want you to be living like this. You should really talk to someone about that and you should also get a place to stay even if you end up renting a singer room from a sweet old lady."

"I've tried that but until I am eighteen there is no way I can get a place of my own." Seth said. "I could go the sweet old lady was as you pointed out but there are none. I can't even get a motel room."

Bella had no idea what to say.

"Well okay then." Bella said.

She grabbed her notebook and walked out of the room.

Jasper was walking back to his desk when Bella came out of an interrogation room and bump into him.

"Jasper what are you doing here?" Bella asked him.

"I've only been given desk duty." Jasper replied. "But I have been given the case of your lovely little stalker since I can do most if not all of the work from my desk and can send a patrol unit to arrest someone or bring them in if I need to."

"You've been looking into that?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I started doing it on my own but now I'm getting paid to do it." Jasper told her. "But I got to be careful Aro got pissed when he heard me talking about it with Peter."

"That seems strange he got mad for you talking to another cop about it." Bella said. "So have you found anything?"

"The closest thing I've got is that the person sending them is either someone you know or someone pretending to be them." Jasper replied.

"I'm sorry but I ran into you at the wrong time. I have a witness to go and finish questioning." But I'll stop and talk to you later if I can swing it."

Bella had disappeared just as quickly as she had appeared. Jasper was not even able to get a word out before she had turned away. He shrugged and walked back to Peter.

"You okay?" Peter asked him. "You look more than a little frustrated."

"I'm fine. I just got some information I need to share with Bella and she's too busy to even stop and listen." Jasper replied.

"Hey you can't blame her, she is technically busy," Peter said. "She has the kid in interrogation to worry about. He nearly trashed her crime scene. She's trying to figure out if he's behind that fire at that scene or not too. You both have a lot going on. I mean the information isn't life or death is it?"

"That's the problem I don't know if it is or not." Jasper said. "Peter I think the guy is stalking her and I have no clue if he is or not and that could be life or death."

"Is there anything to say that he's behind her attacks?"

"Not yet, but he has made threats." Jasper replied.

"Well then take your time and investigate. Find a way to talk to him if you can."

"Not a bad idea." Jasper said. "But I've got to eat and build my energy before I can."

"You want to go now I've been running down leads for that FBI Agent Masen and haven't been able to stop until now."

"Sure let's go."

Bella had walked away from Jasper Whitlock even though she didn't want to. She had her cases and as of now Seth to think about. If Seth had told her the truth then he could now be a target of the arsonist.

After making sure Seth got to his holding cell safely she went to the lab to see if they had any results to report. She was not the only one with this idea as there were a line of other officers waiting for their results or avoiding doing more work.

She walked down the hall past the line and to the tech that she needed to speak with. The woman's office wasn't much, just her degrees hanging on the wall along with a book shelf full of forensic books and a single poster on the back of the door. The desk was as generic as the poster on the door with a computer in on corner and a phone in the other.

"Jane please tell me you have something for me." Bella said. "Because I really need information so I can move forward with my case."

"I actually have good news. I was waiting until all the test came back to send you the results. All suspects but Dirk have been cleared. I'm still working on his." Jane said. "What do you need?"

"I need these prints run though every system you can run them through. I want know who they belong to and any connections those people may have." Bella told her.

"I will let you know what comes up and I'll have Alec take care of it." Jane said. "But keep in mind that it might take a while."

"Just send me updates with each hit you get but only send me hard copies when you have all the results."

"So how is your case going?" Jasper asked her when he got back from eating.

"As well as could be expected, you need something?"

"No, I wanted to tell you about with your possible stalker." Jasper said.

"What about it?" Bella asked.

"The person that sent you flowers while you were in the hospital was Aro or someone pretending to be him. haven't been able to get back with a photo of him and ask the woman if it was him or not." Jasper said. "But I want you to be careful. I also think there is something funny with your sister's case."

Alice had been in the bathroom for ten minutes with an intense pain in her back. The pain had gotten worse of the past hour too, but she wanted to get through dinner first. She knew she was freaking her husband out right now.

"Alice are you okay? You have been in there for a while." Dylan said.

"I'm perfectly fine. Just not getting around like I used to." Alice said. "Can you make sure the ham isn't burning?"

"Yeah," Dylan replied.

She heard his footsteps lead away from the bathroom. The squeaky oven door was opened and she heard the clang of pans being removed and placed on the counter followed by the creaking of the oven door again.

When the doorbell rang Alice knew she needed to get out of the bathroom and face her guest. She also needed to face the fact that she could very well be in labor. She put her hand on the door knob, took a deep breath, turned the knob and walked out of the bathroom to greet her guest.

"Hey Alice, dinner smells great." Bella said. "Please tell me it's your ham."

"Of course it is. Dylan has just taken out of the oven for me. It should be cool enough to eat in a few minutes." Alice said. "Where is Jasper I thought he was supposed to come with you?"

"He's out taking a call. It's about one of his cases so he can't put it off." Bella said. "I also can't listen in."

"I'm guessing your sisters case then," Alice said. "Which you could solve better than most anyway."

When Jasper finished with his phone call he came in and Alice led them to her small dining room. The table in it was already laden down with food. The ham in the center of it all clearly the star of the show. Alice sat on one side next to Dylan while Bella and Jasper sat on the other side.

"Carve the ham Dylan." Alice said.

"It's a spiral ham. I don't have to." Dylan replied standing up to show her what he was talking about.

Hit with an unbearably tight pain Alice screamed out in pain. Dylan immediately turned toward Alice to check on her and make sure she was okay.

"Alice I need to tell me if you are okay." Dylan said.

"It hurts bad," Alice said through clenched teeth.

"Where is the pain?" Dylan asked.

"My back."

"Alice how long have you been feeling the pain?" Dylan asked. "Come on I need you to tell me."

"Since this morning but they've only gotten bad in the past two hours." Alice said. "I thought it was because of all the cleaning I was doing."

"That's it I am taking you to the hospital. The pain could mean something is wrong or the baby could be coming sooner than we planned." Dylan said helped her out of the chair and rushed her out to the car, leaving Jasper and Bella to lock up the house.


	22. September 6, 2010pt3

Bella had been waiting for hours now without word of Alice's condition. Jasper sat right next to her fiddling with his phone. They knew Dylan was with her but it didn't stop them from worrying about her. She sat up a little bit straighter when she spotted Dylan's dark head of hair over the edge of the nurse's station.

"Jasper, Dylan is coming over," Bella said elbowing Jasper in his side.

She and Jasper stood up when Dylan walked up to them. He did not look all that sad but he didn't look all that happy either.

"How is she doing?" Bella asked.

She is fine for now, as much as she can be while in labor. "Her blood pressure and the babies' heart rate has them a little worried. There is a waiting room on the maternity floor you can wait in."

Bella and Jasper grabbed their things and followed Dylan over to the bank of elevators. He led them to the waiting room once they got to the Maternity Floor. It was like the rest of the hospital bland and generic looking and in bad need of an update.

"You guys stay here and make yourselves comfortable and I'll come in and let you know if anything changes with Alice."

Bella and Jasper replied with a nod and took up seats in chairs closest to the doorway.

"You just got to keep yourself calm D." Bella said.

"Saying that and doing that are two completely different things," Dylan replied before leaving the room.

Bella looked at the empty doorway.

"I really hope they both come out of this okay." Bella replied. "I can't imagine it any other way."

"I do to." Jasper said pulling her closer.

Royce pulled up to one of three bars on the south side of Carlen; known more for their seedy clientele than they were for the beer they served. He would rather not be caught in the bar but he had no other choice than to go in. He had barely sat down at one of the tables when he was accosted by another patron.

"You look out of place here," Someone yelled at him.

"I am meeting someone here." Royce replied back.

"There is no one that you know who would want to meet you here. So why don't you go and get back into that pretty little car of yours and leave and don't look back."

The men had continued going back and forth making cracks at Royce until finally a large man in a military get up stood in front of them facing Royce.

"You Royce King?" He asked.

Royce nodded and the mysterious man sat down across from him. The men that had been bugging Royce walked away.

"The messaged you left me said I needed to investigate something and that it was a matter of life and death."

"Yes and I have the file with me." Royce said.

"Can I see the file?"

Royce looked around before sliding the file over to the man who took the file. He flipped though the file and looked closely at a few pages before closing it.

"Your wife, you want me to look into her death but the police are already looking into it. Not to mention someone has been convicted." The man said. "So why do you want me to loo—"

"That is all true but recent events have me believing that the man convicted had nothing to do with it." Royce said. "I like some other people are beginning to think that he just might be innocent."

"And what is it that has you thinking that?"

"My reasons are at the back of the file." Royce said.

"This is real," the man asked.

"It's real enough for the police to be investigating it." Royce replied. "I'm not the only one it was sent to either."

"Who else was it sent to?"

Royce took the file back and flipped a few pages before handing the file back to him.

"Her." Royce said pointing his finger at the picture.

"Pretty girl."

"Her sister was prettier than her." Royce said.

"Well I'm not here to be a match maker I got everything I need but you number to call you when I have something."

Royce wrote his number down on a napkin and handed it over. The man took it and placed it in the file. He pushed back from the table and walked away. The men from earlier were looking at him. He stood up and booked it out of there.

"I am so glad that Alice is okay. She looked so worn out. "It is just sad that she could not see the baby though."

"Well they are just keeping the baby neo-natal intensive care for the night as a precaution and so they can keep a closer eye on things." Jasper said. "Do you want me to take you home?"

"No, I'll catch a cap now that we have someone who isn't creepy. I'll get my car from Alice's in the morning." Bella replied. "You should stay here for Alice."

"Call me if you need anything," Jasper replied. "And let me know when you get home."

"I will." Bella said.

Quickly she kissed Jasper on the cheek and left the hospital. The cab arrived a while later. She couldn't help but think about Alice on the ride home. She also could not wait to fall asleep in her own bed and catch up on some much needed sleep.

Her peace full night of sleep would not last. Because not even an hour after her head hit the pillow a loud bang shot through her apartment. She turned over and grabbed her phone from the corner of the night table and called Jasper, praying that he was still awake enough to get the message.

"There is someone outside of my apartment. My gun is still locked up at Alice's place in the lock box." She said "Please come over."


	23. September 7, 8, 2010

The hot water had Jasper thankful that he was home and in his shower after being sent home by Alice because he had been apparently moping after Bella left. He had been immersed in a day dream about a future with Bella when he heard his phone go off. He jumped out of the shower and grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself before going to grab the phone. He hadn't been able to get to the phone in time to answer it but he did catch the tail end of the message being left.

"—gun is still locked up at Alice's place in the lock box. Please come over."

Jasper had known without a doubt that it was Bella calling him and he knew she wasn't calling him for a good time either; the tone of her voice told him that much. He went back to his room and threw on the cleanest pair of jeans and closest pair of boots he could find. He grabbed his gun and booked it over to Bella's apartment as fast as he could.

With his gun raised and ready to fire he walked around the perimeter of Bella's apartment. He didn't find anybody hiding in the bushes or behind the trash cans. There wasn't even a broken window. He just happened to glance over to her neighbor's patio where the cans had been knocked over by a stray cat. Jasper walked over and set the cans back up right and picked the stray cat up. After double checking things he went in search of Bella.

He knocked on the door and waited for Bella to answer. The cat looked up at him and meowed. Jasper figured he wanted down and was about to reply but Bella opened her door before he could.

"Did you find anyone out there?" She asked.

"That depends on how you look at it," Jasper replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bella asked.

"This little guy," Jasper said holding up the cat. "Is what knocked over your neighbor's cans causing the noise you heard; I think he was looking for food."

"Well he's a cutie that's for sure." Bella said pulling the cat into her arms.

Bella knew she was going to have a hard day at work the next morning. She expected to here derogatory comments from most if not all of the male officers and dirty looks from the females that worked in the office. And she was right about the comments she would hear.

"I heard you called Whitlock for some fun last night Swan;" was the first annoying comment Bella heard walking into work.

She knew it was the first and she knew it would not be the last one. She was expecting it to be a lot worse than that and figured it would get to be worse than that. She was able to shake off most of the comments off like a bug by keeping her mind on her work. All the comments came to a head just before lunch when Bella finally just snapped. A person can take only so many booty call jokes.

"Why don't you freaking idiots go and get your own dam life." Bella yelled, causing several people to stare. "Better yet why don't you go and work on your own dam cases instead of worrying about my privet life or why I called someone; it's not like I can trust any of you at this point."

Awkwardness filled the air after Bella had snapped at the officers making crude comments about her and Jasper. She took a deep breath, turned on her heel and bolted out of the room and passed a shocked looking Agent Masen. She was out of the station and halfway down the street before she had even calmed down a little bit. She knew that she needed to be calm all the way before she walked back into the station. She heard footsteps of someone following her but didn't bother to look behind her for the source of them.

She sat down on the park bench when she got close enough to it. The person that had followed her sat down next to her. She didn't have to turn to look to see that it was Jasper sitting there. There was just something about the static in the air whenever he was around.

"Come on let's go get you some ice cream. It'll cheer you up," Jasper said. "It's about time for our lunch break anyway."

Bella looked at Jasper like he had gone crazy.

He watched as the man and woman walked toward the car. His finger was already itching to hit the button but he had to wait until they were close enough or his point won't be made. When he saw the woman take out her keys he knew it was the perfect moment to hit the button so he did.

"What? You know you always ate ice cream when you were upset. At least when we were together you did." Jasper replied.

Bella shook her head and stood up and walked away from Jasper. He walked behind her. She went to her car and once it was in sight and took her keys out to hit the button to unlock her doors. The car exploded and the force of it sent her backward into Jasper.

The explosion had been larger than he had anticipated but he still thought it was beautiful. It was when he saw the fire trucks pulling up to put the fire out. He started his car and pulled away from the scene. When he was far enough away he pulled out his phone and dialed the only number he had memorized.

"The job is done." He said.

"_Get out of town." A distorted voice answered._

"I'm already on my way out." he said. "When should I expect the money?"

"_Next week."_ The distorted voice replied.

The man headed straight out of town.


	24. September 8, 2010

**Hello readers sorry it's been a while but after my grand ma passed away it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. As of yet I'm not sure how fast updates will be coming but they will. This story is not abandon.**

* * *

"Are you alright?" Jasper asked Bella.

She had been answering questions for the past ten minutes since her car had exploded. She also had to listen to even more snide comments about her and Jasper.

"Oh I'm fine. It's just these people that I can't stand." Bella told him. "My car blows up and all they can ask me about is you. If it wasn't for you, Alice or my sisters case I would be leaving town as soon as I could."

"Alice would kick your but even if you tried that." Jasper said. "But she would also hunt you down and drag you back. You should also tell her about your car."

"Your sister would kill me if I told her."

Bella looked around she didn't have anything else to say and it was her way of telling Jasper that. On her third scan of the lot she spotted a dark haired man a few cars away. He was acting like he was getting into a car. She only paid attention to him because he looked like the man in the pictures she had been given of a man with her sister. She looked back at Jasper but then looked back at where the man was.

"Do you remember that picture of my sister and some man someone sent me?"

"Yeah, it looked like it had been taken years ago." Jasper replied. "Why do you ask about it?"

"I think I saw the man watching us across from the street. The profile of the face looked the same but older." Bella said. "He also looked like the recent picture of Bear McCarty that they have been showing on the news."

"Did the guy look mad or angry at all?" Jasper asked.

"No he looked nervous. More like he wanted or needed to talk to someone." Bella said. "Please don't say anything about it. If they guy was Sid they'll be close to catching him."

"I said nothing about the picture and I'll say nothing about that guy." Jasper replied. "But we really should get back inside."

"Yeah you right we should." Bella replied.

The day had not been fun for Royce. He had two clients fire him because he wasn't working like they wanted him too and a third client got arrested for the fourth time for the same crime.

"Mr. King this came for you." Ann said.

"Thank you. You can go home now. I'll be leaving after this call."

"Thanks." Ann said leaving the room.

Royce took it from her. He opened the envelope and inside was a file he had been waiting on. He picked up is phone and dialed.

"Jim I got that file. I need you to come in sometime tomorrow so we can go through it together."

Royce hung up quickly. He thumbed through the file. It was pretty basic file and there was nothing in the file that could get his client everything he wanted. Figuring he could go over the file with the man tomorrow he packed it up along with a few other file so he could make his way home. He was startled when an object came crashing through his window and onto his floor.

The rug the object landed on went up in flames, and it soon caught everything it touched on fire. Royce made a beeline for his office door but was knocked to the ground by another object flying into his office. He slipped into unconsciousness as his office went up in flames.

An hour later Bella was still at work even though Aro had insisted that she take a vacation or at least taken some time off. Bella politely refused and returned to work much to Aro's dismay.

Today she had nothing to do because she was waiting for results to come in to see which way they would lead her in her investigation. The paperwork requesting the test and everything else she had done was almost complete.

"Bella, come here," Agent Masen called.

"What is it Masen? I have paperwork to finish." Bella replied.

"Come look at the TV." He said.

Bella got up and reluctantly followed Agent Masen into the break room where the TV was located. Agent Masen stood just beside the door and inside the room, Bella stood next to him. Their eyes fixed on the TV across from them.

The TV screen showed a large building with flames coming out of the windows near the bottom. She knew the building well. It was the Mason and Louis building. It was the second tallest building in Carlen with the hospital being the biggest.

"That's the M and L building." Bella said. "What happen to it?"

"They don't know yet. The news anchors have speculated everything from a bomb to a Molotov cocktail." Masen replied. "And that's all they have done. The police and fire fighters haven't said anything."

"How long has it been on the news?"

"About an hour and half from what I've heard but I just got back."

"…latest sources say that only one person was in the building at the time of the fire. They have not been identified nor what floor they were on has been identified. We will update you later when we have more."

Bella and Masen stayed and watch the news cast until it ended. The officers slowly went back to work one by one. When she got back to her desk Jasper was sitting on her desk.

"I guess you saw the news." Jasper said.

"Yeah I did watch it." Bella said. "I'm guessing it's pretty bad by the looks of it."

"Oh without a doubt it is. I was there for a while." Jasper said. "It was Royce's office that was attacked."

"How do you know that?" Bella asked.

"The one victim was found in his office. They don't know yet if it was him because they didn't find any ID on the victim but they believe it was him." Jasper explained.


End file.
